The Rebuild
by 1lifeisbechloe
Summary: Each year, ten people from one of The Five Cities are chosen for The Rebuild program. This year, Beca Mitchell is one of them. / After the apocalypse destroyed most of the United States, Beca has lived mostly in peace, but that changes when she and an old friend reunite in the worst place possible. / Several PP characters involved, but understand the main focus is Bechloe.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys! I've been working on this for so long, decided to just go ahead and post it ! First chapter is basically just to introduce y'all to the story and the backgrounds, I promise the next chapters will be better! It is a Bechloe story, but other PP characters are involved. Send me feedback here or on tumblr; lifeisbechloe. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Beca sighs.

Standing in front of the mirror, she feels disgust at what this day is doing to her. A bright, yellow dress with matching high heels and her long, auburn hair up in a bun, she knows she wouldn't look like this if today were any other day.

But today is the day she's being chosen. Or as Beca Mitchell herself calls it, _being screwed_.

Two weeks ago she found out she was chosen, _screwed_ , when an Official and the city major visited her at work and told her she was one of the ten people who were chosen to go to The Rebuild program. Chosen. The word alone makes Beca's skin crawl, because she's not chosen. She is screwed. Chosen means she could say no. Screwed means exactly what it is. She's being forced to go there against her will. And even though Beca Mitchell takes order from no one, the memory of a young, stubborn man being decapitated on the Town Square when she was eleven haunts her to this day. She knows whenever there's an Official involved, saying no is not an option. That's why she's screwed.

She fixes her dress one last time before walking away from the mirror and into the living room. The walls in the room are mostly grey and cold, Beca is just glad it's empty as she makes her way to the stairs. Forty-four steps and then she's out of the bunker and onto fast ground. She takes her time getting her fixed up bike out of the bushes as she heads down to the Town Square where the event is planned for tonight. Her bike is rusted and makes ticking sounds every time her wheel has spun a lap, but it's a luxury almost no other has in this town.

Beca used old parts at the factory where she works to make the bike; it sure took her a week and several bruises before she got it right, but now she has been riding the thing for at least two years.

* * *

As Beca approaches the Town Square, she hides her bike behind a tree and slowly the brunette makes her way over to the event. She's in no rush to get there, even though it sounds like they have already begun. Beca doesn't care. It's bad enough they're making her come here, dressed like this, do whatever the hell she's supposed to do at The Rebuild program. They will not force her to come on time.

Beca moves down a few rows, passing people she's known all her life, but the girl keeps her eyes focused on the ground. She's not in the mood to greet people and ask about the days they've had. She knows how their days have been. She knows, because everything in this town is always the same. A thought pops into Beca's head that she's glad she can do something different for a change, but she shuts it out. Being chosen for The Rebuild is not something to be happy about.

Beca stops halfway through the square and places herself next to where she's expected to walk towards the stage in a bit. They've laid down a carpet and Beca can't help but chuckle at how cliché that is. Her eyes search the crowd and within seconds she finds her father. He's standing almost at the front, just like every year. Usually she stands next to him, hearing him go on and on about what the world was like before the Apocalypse. Beca just turned seven when the outbreak happened, she remembers small parts of what the world was like back then; like how the buildings were above ground and how tall they stood. She remembers going on vacation and her mom handing her a few coins to exchange for something Beca wanted. She choose _ice cream_. She knows it's something to eat, but what it is, what it looks like and what it tastes like, Beca has forgotten.

This year, Beca had lied to him saying she had to work. It's a good thing he's got his back towards her, because one look at her and her father would have known instantly. Because Beca doesn't wear dresses, like she does today. She wanted to tell her father as soon as the Official and the major had left her workspace, but their words echoed in her head. She was not allowed to tell anyone she was chosen, _screwed_ , for The Rebuild. She remembers all the times she watched the so called reaping; a woman or man of elite picks a name at random and that's the person that's going to The Rebuild. Beca wonders if there are even real names in the bowl where, this year, a woman picks a card from.

Beca doesn't even try to listen when the woman with grey hair and a fancy dress on the stage explains the rules once again, as they do every year. How after the zombie apocalypse, other nations bombed what was then The United States of America in order to prevent their own country from the quick spreading infection. Unsuccessfully, Beca remembers from her history teacher, because more than three quarters of the world's population was fallen either due to the infection or the various anti-viruses that were tested on humans. One was found eventually. If they hadn't, Beca guesses there wouldn't be anyone left.

The woman continues to tell how the nation was in ruins and the part they're living in now, which used to be the east coast of The United States, is the only part that survived. Now, they call it The Five Cities, which Beca thinks is ridiculous. They're a town with less than two hundred citizens, and together with a few other small towns like theirs, they make The Second City. The Factory is closest to their town, Beca's glad for that, because some people have to walk for hours until they make it to work.

The woman moves on to the reasons behind The Rebuild; how a different group of people each year should eventually lead to the resurrection of the now dead land on the West coast. Beca knows the infection is no longer a threat, but because the land was also hit with nuclear bombs, the few humans and animals that survived grew extra limbs, a large amount of hair or something else that they shouldn't. Except for the mutants, Beca was told by her father that there was also zero to few water to find and no growth of plants, which is why the ground is useless.

A few months ago, it was announced that The Second City was going to be the one where the candidates were gonna be picked from this year. Beca remembers last year when it was The Fifth City. That's also called the Farmer's City. They grow and harvest as much as their soiled ground can take. From there on out, it goes to The First City where it gets divided between all five cities. Beca guesses that the reason for The Fifth being picked so many times to attend the program, lies in their knowledge of plants and seeds. That is the most important thing for the resurrection of land, Beca assumes. What is she gonna be of help there? All she knows is how to build stuff.

With her thoughts running wild, Beca had missed the first four names that were called out. She hears the fifth, but makes no attempt to look up to see the boy walking towards the stage under loud applause. Beca doesn't care about anyone else going there, she only cares about herself. And family. She's learnt early on in life that the people you care for and look after, will not do the same for you when you're in need of it.

 _"Beca Mitchell."_

She looks up from the ground for the first time since her arrival and she's met with over fifty pair of eyes. Like she said, it's a small town and everyone knows everyone.

With no intend to rush, she makes her way over to the stage. It's obvious her slow pace is an act of rebelliousness against the program. When she makes it to stage, she finds her father's eyes instantly. His eyes look empty and Beca follows them as he scans her clothing. When their eyes meet, the girl shrugs and curls her lips into a weak smile, without words telling her father she's sorry she didn't tell him. He returns the smile evenly weak and Beca knows he understands.

Without intending to, Beca's eyes are following the last person to join the group. She's missed the calling of the girl's name, but there's something about her that feels familiar to Beca. Could it be the way her face is neutral, but she still seems happy? She gives out a certain vibe, a glow of sunshine surrounding her. Yes. Beca remembers the girl as always being happy, she wouldn't even have to smile for that. As the girl jumps on stage in her shiny, red dress, Beca notices the white sneakers she's got on underneath it. Now Beca is sure who this is as her face lets out a devious grin. She remembers the girl looking sweet and innocent, but deep down she was just as rebellious as Beca. She hated rules and people telling her what to do, but she also must've known not to mess with the Officials. Beca is jealous of the ingenious idea of the ginger's small and undisguised act of fight. As the applause dies out, Beca whispers the girl's name.

 _Chloe Beale._

* * *

The woman who has been doing the introductions leads the group of ten backstage, with a loud applause going on behind them. Beca follows last, just behind the redheaded girl she recognized earlier as Chloe Beale. They all receive a bag with the logo of The Second City on it as the grey-haired woman explains you can fill the bag with whatever you want to take with you, but no more than fits in it. It is mandatory to pack some clothes that keep you warm, as it's quite cold in The Rebuild area. Also, some personal things to remind yourself of home and water bottles are things most people pack. The woman also explains weapons are not allowed and Beca wonders why they would even need weapons. Surely, the mutants could kill you without hesitation, but they are only observers. Right? Only there to come up with new ideas to bring life there. And even if they'd have to visit the deceased land at some point, the Officials would offer some kind of protection. Right? Beca is lost in her thoughts once again as she notices something out of the corner of her left eye. For the second time today, her eyes find the ginger girl: Chloe Beale. Chloe seems to be scolded by an Official. They must've noticed her shoe choice as well and by the look on the man's face, they're not too thrilled with the rebellious act. Chloe is standing with her back towards Beca, but she can hear the sweetness in her voice. Beca wonders what the redheaded girl tells the Official. That she didn't know she couldn't pick some other shoes? That she's sorry? Truly, anything the girl says to the man is guaranteed for her getting away with it. Chloe Beale happens to have big, blue eyes, a bright smile and with use of her innocent voice, Chloe Beale represents honesty and innocence itself. But Beca knows this girl, and she knows Chloe has a bad side as well. A better side, as Beca calls it.

The group is now handed the bags and the woman tells them to get back here tomorrow morning 6 a.m. sharp, which is when they'll leave for The Rebuild. Beca is given the bag with a 'BM' next to The Second City logo; a bald eagle, flying on its side. Every City's logo is a bald eagle, but they're all different. The First City has the prettiest; a close-up of the animal's head, showing his white feathers and bright, yellow mouth. Beca remembers her dad telling her the bald eagle used to be both the national bird and national animal of the former United States of America.

Together with her bag, Beca quickly makes her way out and after she's repossessed her hidden bike, she races off to her house as she's already feeling the damage the air brings to her lungs. People here in Second aren't allowed outside for too long a time in a row, because the air is dirty and if you breathe too much of the dark stained oxygen, you can get sick and maybe even die, who knows. No one's ever dared to be outside for that a long of a time.

When she arrives at the bunker, Beca's glad her dad isn't there yet. His new wife Melissa and twin sons however are. Beca sneaks to her room without them noticing and thinks to herself how selfish it is to get kids in a time like this. Kids who are being raised in a bunker, because we still fear other countries will attack us again. Kids who can't play outside, because they might put things in their mouths and we don't have the resources to test if our land is clean, nor do we have the medicine to treat them if they are in fact infected by something. The Third City is the research City; they have been making medicine since the beginning of it all, but Beca has no idea if they have succeeded into making anything. No one tells them about the other Cities, but Beca assumes if the medicines would work, they would go to First and be divided as well, just like everything else. Maybe it's naïve to think like that.

But for now, no medicines. Actually, there's a lot there isn't. The only thing they have here in Second is industry. They can make things, like these bunkers. And they have a lot of fear; which is probably the only thing they have in all five Cities. Fear. A lot of it. Fear for other countries. Fear for another infection swapping 80 per cent of the world's population. Fear for starvation. Fear for other Cities. Sometimes even fear for other people. Beca wonders if they didn't have to fear that much, maybe people would start to fear The Rebuild.

* * *

Beca wants to start packing her bag and get some rest, but her dad knocks on her door and asks for entrance to her room. She tells him to come in and without saying a word, he sits down on the bed next to her. His face is expressionless and his eyes are fixated on the wall in front of them. Beca wonders if it's the goodbye that's this hard on him.

"You know I'll be back soon, dad. I have no business there, they'll find that out soon enough."

Beca watches her dad's lips curl weakly before he tells her she's very smart. She tells him she's not smart enough to bring life back to dead land, to build things without the equipment they have here.

"There's a lot you don't know about The Rebuild, Beca."

Beca hears him sigh and she knows something else is up. Minutes go by, but she doesn't ask questions, though. Her father will tell her what he plans on telling her.

"Your mother.. She was chosen as well. It was the second year of The Rebuild and you were only ten."

"You told me she died." Beca says confused. Did she come back after the program and then die? Her dad never told her how she died, the grief was too hard for him back then, so Beca didn't ask.

"Five years after she left, a woman came to visit me. Said her name was Joan and she knew Carrie."

Beca listens how her dad explains who the woman was. She wasn't from one of the Cities; she was from where the elite lives. Beca always figured the elite and Officials lived in First, because that's where all the trading happens. First doesn't have a job to do like all the other Cities; industry, research and agriculture. If the elite doesn't live in First, what do the people in First actually do?

"She said their City is called The Main."

"What does this have to do with mom?" Beca is getting impatient with her dad's slow pace. He tells her The Rebuild isn't a program, it's a show. A show for the people in The Main, and Beca doesn't understand. A show? What kind of show is watching ten people trying to figure out how to rebuild the land?

"Do you remember the day I was fired from the factory, Beca? I lied when I said I stole equipment. I was working on a secret project in order of the Officials. We had to make cameras and screens so people could watch what happens where the cameras are placed. We did what we were told, no questions asked, of course."

Beca hears how the woman who claimed to have known her mother, Joan, told him they have screens on what they watch The Rebuild. That it's not a program at all, it's entertainment for the elite. Her father doesn't go into further detail; Beca's unsure if he doesn't know much about it, or if he knows _too much_ about it.

But he's moved on again, telling her how he's sorry he quit his job, sorry Beca had to work from that day on to support _his_ family. Beca understands he probably quit his job from being repulsive, thinking he had a part in his own wife's death. Although Beca still doesn't know how she died. And it's not like her dad could work somewhere else; the factory is all they have here. About five hundred people work there at the moment, because not everyone has to. Depending on how many hours you work, you receive a certain amount of food. So some wives stay home with the kids and the man works full days; making that many hours to be given enough food for three or four or however big your family was.

Then when Beca was the only one that could work in the family, she stopped going to school and took a job in the factory. She made as many hours as she could, sometimes 16 hours a day. You had to work more hours to earn baby nutrition, and the twins were only a few months old back then. Beca was never afraid to get her hands dirty, and besides, she'd rather work all day than be in between crying babies. She loves those two boys, though. She'd do anything for them.

"I won't stay gone like mom. I'll be back, okay?" Somehow, it was always Beca looking after her father. Comforting him. Taking care of him. And the family. Which is why she knows she'll be back. She'll come back as soon as she can, and they have some food stored. They should survive at least two months, and Beca will be back before that. All she has to do is pretend she doesn't know how to rebuild the land, and then they won't need her, even if it is for some sort of entertainment. If she'll just stay her boring, quiet, knowledge-less self, they have to send her home.

"Joan. She told me only one or two make it out of The Rebuild every year. The rest.." Her father takes a deep breath, but Beca already knows what he's about to say. "The rest dies, Bec."

Beca feels a lump forming in her throat and her eyes shrink in confusion. Instead of panicking, Beca does what she always does; analyze. _The Rebuild. Dead land. Deserted. Empty. Mutants. Infections. When the woman said no weapons. No drinkable water. Screens. Cameras. Entertainment for the elite. Seeing only one girl come back from three years ago when Second was chosen. She looked broken. Empty eyes. Scars that never fade, no many how many years pass._ Her thoughts run wild, unorganized and some repeated more than others, but one sticks out. One scares her more than any other. _Dying_.

It's stupid, really. Death never scared Beca. Beca's afraid of things that have a possibility of not-happening; like her losing her job in the factory and her family starving to death, that's what she fears. She fights that fear by arriving at her job early every day and working hard, following orders (even though she hates orders) and making a lot of hours to save up in case her worst fear becomes reality. But she was never afraid of something that will happen eventually. She always thought it was stupid when people fear death; everyone dies. Everyone. There is no exception, so why would you fear something that's bound to happen eventually? Fear something you can change, you can fight against. Don't fear the one thing you're sure of that will happen.

But now the word ' _dying_ ' repeats in her head and it's not so much that she's scared to die like this, but this is _murder_. She's scared, because she's being murdered and she's not sure what to do about it.

"If I could take your place in The Rebuild, I would, Bec."

But he can't. Beca knows he can't.

"Look, you're smart. You're good at reading every situation you're put into, I know you can do this."

She just sighs with a fake smile on her face. She has to reassure her dad once again. He has to know she'll be fine, _even though she won't_. "It's alright, dad. Thanks for telling me. I should start packing."

"Alright, I'll be just outside." Beca's dad knows her better than anyone. He knows how her brain works; she needs a few minutes to cope. Not just with the fact that her mother died in the place she's being send to, although that is a hard pill to swallow. But more so, she needs to figure out right now if she's got anything to ask him that would help her there. She can think of everything else later, right now she's got less than seven hours before she might never see him again and he might have some information that he doesn't know can help her. She just needs a few minutes to think about everything, that's why he leaves her alone.

"Thanks, dad." Beca doesn't even know what she's more grateful for; him leaving her to herself, or all the things he told her. Beca understands why he didn't tell her sooner. He had no reason to tell her. He only knows some woman claims his wife died there, and though that's probably true, he didn't know much more. Maybe she was infected, or there was an accident. Either way, she was killed by the elite who sent her there. But he doesn't know what happened, so what was he supposed to tell her? Beca couldn't blame him for that, and she doesn't.

She walks over to the bag while thinking what to pack. She starts off easy: clothes, obviously. But not too much. Two pair of her work trousers. One she'll wear, so one goes into the bag. Next up are shirts; she stuffs three black ones in the bag, lays one on the bed to wear tomorrow and her leather jacket, too. She grabs some underwear, socks, as well as two metal water bottles that she made herself in the factory, so they wouldn't have to spend money on the plastic cups that are way too overprized by the elite.

She paces her room. What else? She's got two of the three things that the grey-haired woman told them to pack; clothes and water bottles. Reading between the lines, Beca thinks they're only allowed those three things, which leaves her with personal items. She scans her room which doesn't contain much, let alone personal things. She's got a stuffed animal somewhere, but that's about the only thing that survived the apocalypse, and she's not taking that. _There must be some way to get around the rules of the elite_ , Beca wonders as she walks out of her room. Immediately, she feels two pair of eyes following her movements and Beca wonders if Melissa knows anything about what's going on. But she doesn't bother asking; it's not important to her. She searches the living room, her mind deciding quickly on every item she sees whether it'd be useful or not. So far, it's all not.

"Hey, dad?" Beca's mind hadn't fully processed the idea yet, but her mouth already spoke out. "Do you still have that thing you built?" She doesn't wanna say ' _weapon_ '. Just because she doesn't care if Melissa knows, doesn't mean her dad don't, either. She knows he will also understand ' _that thing'_.

"Yeah, it's uh- come with me."

He leads Beca into his room, across the hall from the twins' rooms; Beca's old room. They had to split it up when the boys started to become too big to sleep in their parents' room. Every bunker has two big rooms, because it is made for four people, maximum. But Beca and her dad built her own room, which you could say is ' _outside_ ' of their bunker. It took them months and sometimes Beca still feels the pain in her back from sleeping on the kitchen floor, but they got it done after long and hard months. It was the hardest thing Beca ever had to do; building a room underground. Looking back on it, she probably should have asked some people from work to help her out, but Beca Mitchell never asks for help.

"You sure you wanna take this with you?"

Her dad hands her the tool and Beca moves it around from one hand to another. From just a glance, it appears to be a small, metal box. Beca thinks that if she sticks some photographs on it, the Officials won't suspect a thing. It isn't just a box, you see. If you stick your nail into the upper side of it, you can slid it open and it unfolds. Inside are three screwdrivers and one small knife, all no bigger than the length of her hand. Beca knows the knife is too small to kill a mutant, but she can probably find something there to attach it to; maybe a large stick.

"Yes, I think this will do. Thanks, dad."

Beca throws the tool on her bed, together with the food she took from the kitchen on her way back to her room, first are potatoes and oranges. Both can last up to two weeks and don't need to be in a cooled area for that. Two glass cans of honey, because not only will it last for years, it's also good to treat wounds and burns with. Beca hopes she won't need it for that. She's also put some of her dad's old bourbon in a small, plastic bottle. She can use that to clean out infections or to kill some pain. She has to expect the worst, alcohol can help in worse case scenarios. Last, she grabbed a bag of rice and two cans of dried beans. Those two together contain all of the nine essential amino acids to support your body, and although the rice can get kind of heavy in the bag, Beca decides it's worth the pain it will bring to her back.

When she's put everything in there, the bag is already pretty stocked, but the girl thinks of one more thing she can take with her. She cuts off part of her wooden desk, and though it takes her all night to plane the wood and decorate it with some berries she squashed earlier, by the time morning arrives, it looks like, _well_ , like a kid decorated a piece of wood. Beca wasn't quite the artist, but in this case it works in her advantage. She has to make the Officials believe this is a personal belonging, which is hopefully what they see in it. Beca holds it tightly in her right hand. The piece is no longer than 12 inches and it's also quite thin, but Beca knows, after hours of working it, that the wood is strong and if you hit someone in the right place with it, you can do some damage.

Two weapons. Beca hopes it's enough.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks guys for all the love! Chapters will be longer from now on, I promise. This is just to get into the story ;) Enjoy!**

* * *

"You can't take this."

As predicted, the Officials search everyone's bag and Beca's is no exception. The entire search table is full with items from the other Chosen one's bags, little things like a flashlight, lighters, there's even a pair of shoes on there, which Beca doesn't even bother to wonder why that's on there.

"What do you mean, I can't? It was a gift from my little brother." Beca's glad she's got her leather jacket on as it's quite cold this early in the morning. On a normal day, she'd be out by seven-thirty as it's about a ten minute bike ride to the Factory and even though the machines aren't turned on until eight sharp, she liked to be early. That gives her time to prepare, clean up her work place and, maybe most importantly, watch the other people enter. Beca likes to observe people; get to know their routine, how many hours they make and what they do while working; chatting with people or minding their own business.

There was always one guy who came in minutes after her, every day. Like Beca, he went straight to his workplace and waited for the day to begin, but while Beca was observing him and the others, he would always lie his head down on the table in front of him, arms surrounding his head and eyes closed. The first few weeks, Beca thought it was just because he had to wake up early. He didn't make long days, sometimes only 5 or 6 hours. Now, years later, Beca still believes he's tired, but not the kind of tired that sleep can fix.

It's also still really dark, Beca notices as she searches the area for Chloe. Beca herself was the ninth to arrive, and she was already ten minutes late. She didn't expect Chloe to be later than herself, but now another ten have passed and Beca's mind starts to wonder if she'll even show up at all. Again, the flashes appear in front of her eyes of the guy being decapitated on the Town Square and suddenly her coat provides no more warmth to her body; those thoughts make her skin run cold.

"It's considered a weapon."

Beca turns her eyes back to the man and tries to argue, but he won't have any of it. "Look, sir. My little brother made this. Yes, I know it's made of wood, but he's locked in a bunker twenty-four seven with nothing to do. I found this piece after work one day, it was just lying on the ground. I told him it was his and he could make something of it. I was trying to prepare him for life in Second, you know, making things? We're not all as lucky to have a job that's searching people's bags."

"Are you calling me out?" The Official slams Beca's bag on the search table and faces her arms-crossed. Beca knows he's probably trying to be intimidating, but really, what's he gonna do? Send her to a toxic place where, if the air or lack of food and water won't kill her, the mutants with six arms will?

"Actually yes. Did you not understand that? I thought she made it pretty clear."

Beca recognizes the voice immediately, but it's not until Chloe's standing right next to her, that she can actually see her. She's wearing dark clothes, but her blue eyes light up the space around her. The darkness makes her hair look darker than it actually is and Beca thinks of how long it's been since she's seen this face from up close.

"Miss Beale, you're thirty minutes late."

"Actually, I'm twenty-eight minutes late, but I'll let it slide since I'm guessing you're not the smartest." Chloe throws her bag on the search table with a loud sigh, crossing her arms over her chest and giving the Official a look that says 'go on, then', eyebrows up high and her face slowly tilting.

Beca chuckles at the sassy remarks the girl's got and she can't help the smile forming on her face, not even the angry eyes of the man can curl them any less. The Official hands Beca her bag and she quickly takes it from his hands, glad that he left both her weapons is the bag. She joins the group as they await their ride. Beca's not surprised that they're being led into a bunker. Really, she already figured they'd have Second build them something that would be their ride. Although Beca expected something with wheels. She scans the object in front of her as she takes the last few steps of the stairs. It's quite a small vehicle, probably made just for the ten of them and the six Officials. Beca spots only one engine and she wonders how the thing works. It's got a big, what seems like rubber, skirt around it and there's a huge fan on the back of the vehicle which doesn't help her to figure out what kind of ride this is.

She asks one of the Officials about it, but he just tells her to 'get on board'. Beca does what her is told, mostly because she thinks she'll find more answers when she's actually on the vehicle. She goes to the fan first. She recognizes it from when it gets hot in the summer and they turn on fans like these in the Factory. Actually, it is **just** like those. Beca sees the mark on it ; an 'F' with a number two next to it, the official sign it is made in Second.

"Don't touch anything, Chosen."

Beca didn't even realize her finger was running over the mark, until the Official slapped her hand off of it. So Beca backs off and plans on checking out the engine when she hears it start. The engine sounds fine and there's not a single chug. She feels the vehicle move under her feet and she quickly makes her way over to the side, just in time to watch the rubber skirt turning into a band. She guesses the engine is connected to a propeller which blows up the rubber skirt, since it started filling up when the engine got turned on. She watches the big fan which is now also moving, spinning around fast as Beca feels the vehicle lose touch with the ground. She knows what this is.

"A damn hovercraft."

Beca turns around in shock at the voice coming from behind her. It's Chloe, hanging over the railing. Her eyes are focused on the air in front of her, and if it wasn't completely dark and you could see more than one inch in front of you, Beca would take a guess and say she's staring at the most beautiful thing to her.

"Yeah, it is." She chuckles. She doesn't bother asking her how Chloe knows. She lives in Second, too. She knows about industry and what is made here. And although Beca has never seen a hovercraft, the hints are all there and it doesn't take a genius to guess this is made especially for The Rebuild.

Beca's mind takes her back to when she was nine and she saw Chloe for the first time. It was when they just started up an education system for the kids of Second. The first three years, they were taught in one of the first bunkers. Back then, there were only three big bunkers in what's now called Second. They were made quickly after the outbreak to protect the people and when the infection was stopped, everyone lived in those bunkers. It took them more than two years until they had made bunkers for everyone. But even when everyone lived in the same space, they still had it better than any other City; they didn't have any bunkers and were forced to live outside with the danger of mutants, diseases or whatever else could be out there just waiting to attack them.

When everyone had their own bunker, the kids claimed one of the big bunkers as their school. But that lasted only a few months; the elite didn't want anyone to have a bigger bunker than anyone else. Everyone's should be the same size and they were very strict about that. When the bigger bunkers were destroyed, the few teachers Second had, decided to teach the kids at their own place. And when the English teacher married the woman who taught math, they had a bunker of their own again.

"It's kind of pretty, isn't it?"

Beca feels like the redhead is talking to no one in particular as her eyes stay focused on the sight in front of her, her voice unpitched as she easily breathes out the words. Beca can't help it; her eyes stay on Chloe and she doesn't know why.

"Yeah, guess it is." Beca answers, even though they are flying underground and you couldn't see your hand if you held it in front of your face. But maybe that's what the girl thinks is pretty; darkness. The unknown.

* * *

After some time, Beca counted a little over 26 minutes, Chloe mentions they should join the group. Beca tells her to go ahead, that she'll be ' _right there'_ , not sure if it's a lie or not. She doesn't wanna be around people right now. So she spends another 17 minutes by herself, staring into the darkness, until suddenly she'd spot some trees. She just figured her mind was tricking her, but then she hears people talking beneath her, and she wonders if they are really outside. Will they survive the air? Beca takes a deep breath, but it doesn't feel as heavy as the oxygen back in Second. Did they do it on purpose? Bringing them to The Rebuild when it's still dark so they won't be able to see? Did they do it on purpose? Flying partly underground so they can't find their way back? Beca's been thinking of escaping ever since they told her she was chosen, but she didn't actually think she could.

Beca hears voices again, louder this time, which leads Beca to believe they are not far off the ground. She wonders how far as she tries to make out words in the noises, wonders that if she can make out words, what that would mean; low enough to jump? She wonders if she can tell the difference between the sounds, wonders if she can tell the difference between what would be high enough to break her bones or what would kill her.

When she gets tired of thinking, she decides to join the group anyway. Still unsure of what to expect at The Rebuild, she takes a guess it's never a bad thing to get to know the rest of the people that are gonna be wondering around there. The group is sitting in a circle in the middle of the hovercraft, some have their legs folded underneath their body, others have them stretched out. Beca recognizes a boy; he has his legs stretched out, his hand rubbing over his knee while telling jokes. Beca can already tell he must be the clown of the club as he's way too present. He's not a very tall guy, maybe just over 5"4, and he has dark blond hair. She knows this boy. Well, doesn't **know** him, but recognizes him. He works in the Factory and usually arrives when most of the people do; a few minutes before the machines start up. She doesn't know his name, but she knows a few months back, she saw him with crutches. Beca assumes he made them himself, because she recognized leftover parts; parts that they can't use anymore in the Factory and the workers can take with them.

Beca stays standing in the back and watches, observes, as the rest of the Chosen group makes small talk and jokes about how they are all bald eagles right now. Beca doesn't think it's funny, though. But maybe that's because she knows a bit more than they do. To be honest, she doesn't think any of this is funny and she will never understand how these people, most of them around her own age, think there is anything to smile about when they have been forced to be here, go wherever. The two older people, Beca guesses are in their mid-forties, are also in the circle; a man and a woman. The man is throwing jokes around together with the younger guy, Knee Guy as Beca calls him in her head. The man is trying to be funny, but Beca finds most his jokes offensive. The woman is like half the Chosen group; only laughing at the bad jokes that are made.

Beca searches for the six Officials; three of them are in the small control room, but only one is actually focused on the controls. The man is steering and pushing some buttons. And Beca notices he's occasionally talking through a device; a small, black box with a button on the side. Whenever the man speaks, he's got the button pushed down. Beca thinks it's probably some kind of communication device, probably used to contact the elite. She wonders what he's telling them.

The other two are in chairs, talking to each other. They're both quite large men and it looks a bit silly to Beca; 6 foot something guys in plastic chairs, their knees almost touching the floor as their long legs drape to the side. On the other side of the hovercraft are another two Officials, hanging over the side like Beca and Chloe were earlier. She can't tell if they're talking, but they're definitely not paying attention. Beca hears noises coming from below them once again and she can't help but think how easy it would be to just hop over the railing. The fall, although able to physically damage her, she doubts could kill her. And even if one of the Officials would notice her absence, she doesn't think they'd be crazy enough to jump after her. Although they wouldn't have to; they can just turn the craft around and catch her close to the ground. Beca's sure she could find her way home, but she knows the Officials will catch her there sooner or later. She doesn't have anywhere else to run to but home.

Beca snaps herself out of her thoughts and watches the sixth Official, the only one who's actually paying attention to the group, standing arms-crossed besides them, looking down on each and every one of them. Beca finds Chloe, sitting in the middle of the crowd, talking to a girl next to her. She tries to listen to what they're saying, but the laughter of the group is making that impossible. Beca is a little disappointed; she figured Chloe would be like her, keeping her distance from the group, but here she is, laughing over some stupid girl's jokes. Beca doesn't recognize the girl, so she figures she must still be in school. Maybe that's where the two girls know each other of. Chloe's also still in school, both her parents work in the Factory so there's really no need for her to, too.

Beca did have to, three years ago. She didn't really mind, though. She never understood why they were educating kids when all they were ever gonna be was another worker in the Factory. Beca figured she'd be there sooner or later, so one day she just left. She feels a bit of guilt for not telling Chloe she was leaving; they were pretty close for years. Beca was always a pretty closed person, she had trouble letting people in. She didn't really see the point, and when her mom died, that only made things worse. But it was different with Chloe, somehow. She slipped under her brick of walls every day, which must've been hard for her, but she still did it, time and again. It's funny, looking back on it now, how Beca arrived at the school bunker every morning, head down and trying not to be noticed by anyone as she took her usually spot in the very back. And how Chloe would only allow that for about three minutes and then she'd come to drag her up and they'd both sit down in the middle of the group of people.

But right now, more than three minutes have passed and Beca's still standing at the back, observing, trying not to be noticed, and Chloe's over there, giggling as her hand occasionally runs over the girl's arm and thigh.

Things have changed.

* * *

Beca loses track of the time, unable to count the minutes that pass anymore, but she guesses she's spent a good six hours on this craft. Most of the Chosen are asleep. The older man and woman are up though, they're chatting. And Beca spots one guy hanging over the railing, head up to the sky. She figures she must at least try to participate in the group, since they're gonna have to work together in The Rebuild, and what works better for her than one person at a time.

When she's reached the boy, she immediately regrets her decision. What would she have to discuss with this guy? Instead of starting a conversation, she just sighs deeply and follows his gaze up towards the sky.

"So, what's your deal?"

Beca's quite offended by the boy's words, but he's smiling and she's not sure what he's doing. Is he being rude or just messing around? Beca can't help her nature defense mechanism rising, bringing her guard up, adding a few more bricks to the already big wall surrounding her. "Excuse me?" It comes out as angry, which it always does when she's feeling assaulted.

"No, I mean-" He chuckles and Beca just want to walk away right now, because this guy is definitely never gonna be a friend of her. "-Are you like one of those walking mysteries? One of those badass outsiders who turns out to be an actual sweetheart once she takes off the nails in her ears and doesn't death stare at everyone?"

Beca got those steel nails from The Factory and she pushed them through her earlobes on her own when she was seventeen. She thought they looked cool and no one else had it. Her dad didn't like it one bit, but Beca didn't care. She doesn't care what anyone thinks of it, especially not this guy. "These are not coming off." She simply states.

He answers with an 'alright' and a smile before his eyes move back up to the sky. He probably got the vibe that he should back off, which everyone does when Beca's being her distant self. But her plan was to actually communicate with this guy, and not push him away, which is harder than she thought. It takes her a few more minutes, until she allows her walls to fall. "The death stare can go, though?"

"Wow, she can smile."

She tells him to shut up and they spend the next hour talking about the view. Well, the guy is doing most the talking, but Beca tries to fill the silences he leaves open for her to tell him she agrees or not. It's all just chat, nothing deep and personal, Beca could never do that.

Beca's looking down, she sees the tops of trees, empty and broken roads, a lot of mess that no one bothered to clean up after the bombings. The boy is looking up, to the sky, talking about what shapes the clouds are and one, he said, looked like Beca. Beca didn't see it, though; it was just a cloud.

The boy tells her that you can tell a lot about a person who's up high and looking down, and Beca doesn't real catch much after that, because she likes the depth in it. Jesse seems like a cheerful person, he smiles a lot and though that doesn't always say much, they don't seem faked. His eyes are full of life, excited about what new things they'll see today, while Beca wishes she didn't have to see an inch more of this fucked up world. Jesse looks up, to the sky, to the clouds, while Beca looks down, to the ground, determining how high they must be. And she thinks Jesse's right. You can tell a lot about a person who looks down when they're up.

All they see is the top of trees, but it's nice to look at them. It's calming, somehow, to look at things that are so far away, things that you can admire without explaining yourself. It's like time stops when you're just looking at them, at how different and alike they are at the same time; in color, in shape, in height. The boy tried to count them all, and Beca counted the minutes he used up; 27. Then they were interrupted by two Officials telling them to get back to the middle of the vehicle, because they were landing in a little while. The thought of jumping out and running away is still in the back of Beca's mind, but she follows the two men anyway and sits down next to the boy and the older woman. She finds Chloe across from her, and the girl she was talking to is next to her again, although now talking to someone else; the Knee guy, the clown, who's sitting on the other side of her. Beca feels Chloe's eyes on her and she moves to meet them on instinct.

To say Chloe's eyes were blue is like saying the sun is yellow and shining; it doesn't change the fact that they are, but it doesn't do justice to them. They aren't a cliché type of blue, though. They're the kind that appears to be icing, cold and it brings shivers down your spine if you stare too long. And it's funny, because her face represents innocence, and it's like a contradiction right there in the small area that is her face, significant to Chloe herself, how she's sunshine and rainfall at the same time. How she's a storm of the most beautiful kind, a tornado that leaves no mess, just the aftermath, the shock. Her eyes are a miracle on her own, though, the way they're gazing over Beca right now makes the little hairs on her arm stand up and it's like she's being hit in the face with a cold, winter breeze. Her eyes don't capture light, however they defy it.

"Oh, I never got your name?"

Beca forgot about the guy sitting next to her and she wonders if he's said anything else, because the only reason she's snapped out of her thoughts right now, is because Chloe awkwardly smiled at the ground and her eyes released the grip they had on her.

The boy is shaking his head and his smile is once again covering half his face. She tells him her name and shakes his reached hand.

"I'm Jesse." He tells her and Beca rolls her lips to the side, feeling like she has no other choice than to return his smile, even if it's obviously faked.

* * *

Beca scams the premises around the vehicle that's brought to an abrupt stop on the ground. Beca feels the impact it has on her body, but her eyes stay focused. The area around them looks anything but wrecked. The land looks like it's in perfect shape, Beca needs her hands to confirm that, which they do. She has never felt such solid ground. She spots entire fields of grass to her left and buildings, buildings above ground, on her right. Beca feels like she's being send back in time to before the outbreak, to before the mess she's lived in most of her life, to a place she remembers as fantastic and amazing and carefree, life above ground, life without fear, life when her mom was still here.

Beca gets flashes of that life in front of her eyes as she tries to understand how this is possible. How the area that was damaged most by the bombs and the infection could turn out like this. And how their area is still dead, not even a single plant that grows or lives, while here there are entire fields. Beca doesn't understand how a place like this could exist.

It's calm. And quiet. So quiet.

Beca only hears her own mind racing. There's not a single person in her entire surroundings. Well, expect for the other nine Chosen and the six Officials, but Beca forgets about them for now, because she can't believe this place is so beautiful yet no one's taking it in. No one's around, admiring, appreciating it.

Beca could stay here for all of time, just watching, but the Officials are telling them to get moving, and everyone does. Beca stays a little longer but eventually obeys, following the group that's a few feet in front of her, but Beca doesn't rush. She tries to go over things in her head, but the air is really fresh and every time she takes a breath, it's like a drug to her lungs. Fooling them into thinking they work properly, just for a moment, and then it's gone again, until the next hit.

Beca never thought a place like this would exist; not in her lifetime. But here it is, all right in front of her, below her feet, around her, everywhere. And it's quite a lot to take in, because there's hope for the future. Hope that someday every part of every City will look like this.

And maybe her dad was wrong. Maybe this program is real. It must be, because this place is full of life, and Beca's not sure what she's expected to do here, but maybe she can make a difference. Maybe she _can_ do something. Maybe it _was_ a lie when she said she'd be back soon. But if it means the twins can one day live in a place like this and breathe this curing air, it'd be worth it, right? Her dad would understand.

Beca can't help but think maybe this is what her mom went through. Seeing this place and deciding it was somehow more important than her family. Being here makes her feel closer to her mom, in a way. And it's nice.

But it's also the place where she died and she mustn't forget that.

Must never forget what this place did to her mother, and her entire family in return, so Beca shakes off the vibe that was brought to her when she set foot on this ground, shakes off the thoughts of leaving her family behind. Instead, she decides that whatever she's gonna do here, she'll keep her dad in mind, and the boys.


	3. Chapter 3

The group is being led into another bunker, but it's quite obvious from just one look, it's nothing like the bunkers they have in Second. One hundred and six steps and then Beca's feet touch the floor, being the last to go down the stairs, she doesn't move and keeps one hand on the fifth step to prevent herself from falling down. Her eyes scan the big room, there's a few tables with benches but besides that, the entire room is empty. There are two people sitting down and one person walking around, and Beca doesn't understand why this room isn't completely filled. How it can be, that there's still people sleeping outside in Forth, when there's all this clean air in here, enough place for hundreds of people to sleep.

Two Officials walk through the open space, the group follows without the order, and Beca is again last, only one Official behind her. The walls in the room are grey and look as though they are a mix of concrete and metal. There's some sort of dining area to their right where a woman is busy mixing something. Beca thinks she smells mashed potatoes, yet whenever they have them at Second, they don't smell this nice.

Beca's eyes are still trying to take everything in about the room as they slowly exit it, she's even walking backwards and though it's easy to ignore the Official's angry looks, it's not as easy to ignore his hand on her shoulder and part of her chest as he tries to lead her out. Beca jumped back, not because of the Official in any direct way, he didn't even push her, just lightly guided her out. But Beca's body is not used to physical contact, so it flinched and the only way to move away from the man's hand, was indeed the direction he wanted her in. Out of the room.

What Beca was thinking of doing in that split second after her body startled, was throwing both her fists up and her mouth open, ready to attack the man verbally and physically. Even though, yes, the man is twice her size and he could probably knock her out with the push of two fingers against her forehead, yet she would never go down without a fight.

What happens instead, takes Beca by surprise. Apparently, by jumping out of the big entry room and into the hallway, Beca collided with Chloe who was waiting there with the rest of the group and the Officials. Beca's mind didn't even process the fact that she body slammed the redhead, it was too busy thinking about what she was gonna scream at the rude Official.

It's weird how she feels her body relax when Chloe giggles and puts one hand on her back, telling her it's okay, even though Beca hasn't even apologized. She still could, right now, it would be the perfect timing for an apology, yet Beca doesn't. It feels unnatural to her, makes her feel vulnerable, which doesn't really make sense, but she's not gonna risk it.

Somehow the words 'I'm sorry' sound like the breaking of the brick wall around her.

Even though those words don't really need explaining; she could just say them and everything would be fine. She still feels like there could be a rejection, or something else she's not familiar with. Beca doesn't like the unexpected or something she can't control. Which is why she doesn't say anything.

She just looks at the girl. There's a smile on Chloe's face but not on Beca's, which should make things uncomfortable, yet Chloe just keeps smiling and Beca just keeps looking at her. On the other hand, she's lost the anger her face was experiencing seconds ago, so maybe it's not as uncomfortable as Beca thinks it is. Nonetheless, she moves her eyes away from the girl and onto the empty floor as she rubs her hands together and swallows away the lump forming in her throat. Unsure what the feeling in her stomach is.

"Alright then." One of the Officials snorts with a stupid grin on his face while Beca watches two girls of their group get into some sort of small cabin behind them, one Official accompanying them. She thinks one of the girls was the one who was all over Chloe earlier in the hovercraft, but the doors to the cabin close faster than her eyes could verify this. "Since you get along so _well_ , you two are next."

Beca immediately feels fear creeping over her, and she hates it. Hates fear, because it's stupid. It doesn't bring you anything good. But she can't help it, she doesn't know what is in that cabin and where they're going. Doesn't know anything.

When the doors of the same cabin the two girls disappeared in open again, it's empty and one Official gets in, followed by Chloe who seems rather calm and a frightened Beca. As the doors close again, Jesse's face is the last thing she sees before the metal takes over her view. She can tell they're moving, but it takes Beca a few seconds before she's established they are going down.

As she tries to calm her mind, telling herself it's a good thing to go further down into the ground instead of up, she feels Chloe's eyes on her and she follows her gaze down to the side of her body. When she sees what Chloe sees, she feels kind of embarrassed. She wonders how long her fists have been clenched like that, her knuckles are actually turned a shade of white and it's not until now that she feels how deep her nails have been pushed into the inside of her hand. Slowly, she releases the tension on both of them as her mouth turns into an awkward smile, more like a shrug, and her eyes are met with a pair of the purest blue eyes. It surprises her every time how beautiful Chloe's eyes are, not to forget the matching smile underneath them.

When the doors open again, the Official leads them down a hall while telling them they have one hour to freshen up and then someone will come to pick them up. To where, he doesn't say.

Beca's eyes follow the rooms in the hallway. There are no numbers on them, just empty doors, six on each side, Beca counts, until the man stops and opens the one destined for them. It's bigger than Beca's room back in Second, though just as cold and empty. There's two beds on separate sides of the bunker, a bathtub and a toilet in the back and what appears like an empty closet right next to a sink. Chloe has lied down on the bed to the left, so Beca throws her bag on the other as she heads to the closet. One door is only half opened, and Beca finds out after checking it out, it's not quite empty as she thought it was, but it's not really interesting either.

"Towels." She answers Chloe's questioning look. Beca really wish she didn't care about getting naked in front of someone, because she would love a bath right now, but she does. It's not so much insecurity, but to say she was confident about the way she looked would be a lie. She just honestly doesn't care about that. There's people starving to death and she was supposed to be worried about the way she looked?

Besides, Beca likes how she looks. She knows other people don't, because they always stare at the nails in her ears and the perfectly fine shirts Beca rips open on either sides, simply because she likes them better like that. Her dad told her a few times to exchange her filthy jeans for better ones at the Town Square. They only get a new pair of pants and a shirt once every six months, but if you hand in your old ones, you can get a clean set. Beca doesn't like the clean ones, though. Whenever they get new jeans, she takes them outside and rubs them through the dirt immediately. She doesn't like how they look perfect and uncrippled.

"You wanna go first?"

Beca hesitates. She showered last night, so it's not the dirt on her body that's bothering her. But she doesn't know what's to come, what they will do here, where they're gonna go. She doesn't wanna miss out on a last chance to shower, but Beca goes for the safe answer anyway.

"No, I'm good."

Beca watches Chloe's body movements; the way she jumps off the bed and how her hair follows, bouncing off her shoulders and locks hitting her face. She thinks back about the days when she saw Chloe every day. How she took all that for granted and how she never thought twice about leaving. How easy it was on her, to suppress the feelings of guilt and shame over these last years. And how suddenly it can't be hidden anymore. Ever since they were reunited on that stage, Beca knows it shows obviously in her eyes.

Forgetting Chloe, however, was anything but easy. It was really fucking hard, pretending every day as if she didn't miss her and their friendship. Beca was always an outsider, not to her complaint, but Chloe opened her up. Showed her it wasn't a bad thing to let people get to know you.

When Beca was on her own again, she was worse than before Chloe changed her for the better, although she would never admit that. She didn't speak to anyone at work, or anyone she'd run into after work, besides from the obligatory ' _hi, how are you?_ '. She didn't really talk to anyone anymore, besides her dad and his family. And even that she hated most of the time.

Suddenly, her mind goes from racing to immensely quiet. Like when the first bombs were dropped in Beca's city and everything was loud and crushing and people were screaming. And when the bombings were over, everything was quiet. Everyone was paralyzed from shock and Beca remembers how she had no thoughts at all.

And maybe it's a little drastic to compare that moment to this, but that's what it reminds Beca of. Chloe taking her shirt off has the same impact on Beca as a dropped bomb.

She looks away immediately, of course. In fact, she keeps her eyes closed until she hears the sound of a body entering a full bath and even then, she doesn't allow her eyes to stray to that area of the room.

To keep herself busy, Beca decides to check on her bag. Her hands search for the two weapons first and her body relaxes when she's found them. She wraps them back into the t-shirt and grabs another one out of the bag to change herself into later.

* * *

She's counted 35 minutes they have spent in this room, to which Beca's sure Chloe has been in the bath for at least twenty of them. She's not sure though, because with her mind racing and blacking out, she lost track of the minutes there for a bit.

Pushing herself off the bed with a loud sigh, Beca heads to the sink, trying not to look in Chloe's direction, but she can feel her eyes on her. "Isn't it time to get out of there?" Beca asks before pulling her shirt over her head and splashing her face wet with water. The water's warmer here than the tabs they have in Second.

"Why? Did you change your mind about washing up?"

"No." Beca answers quick and she's pretty sure her cheeks are flustered, though she's not sure why. Maybe it's because Chloe's slowly getting out of the bath and Beca tries really hard to keep her eyes from looking. "I'm washing up right now, aren't I?" Beca dries her arms with the old shirt before throwing it over her shoulder, folding her hands into a cup to drink and then water her face again.

"You've got a little something."

She can feel Chloe approaching her, which is probably why her breathing has stopped, like the rest of her body. Beca can see from the corner of her left eye that Chloe's only wearing the towel around her body. She can hear the water dripping from her body onto the ground and Beca kind of wants to run away, break through the locked door and climb a thousand stairs if she must, just to escape what's happening here.

Instead, she just keeps throwing water up into her face, hoping every time it will turn as cold as the water back home.

"Like, right-" Beca swallows hard once and closes her eyes, knowing what's gonna come. "-here." There it is. The feeling Beca has missed for three years. The way her spine is straightened and her skin itches and her eyes roll back into her skull, which is luckily not visible for anyone.

And it's stupid. Really stupid, because it's only a touch of a finger. A thumb running over her cheek, bringing Beca things she didn't know she could feel.

"Thanks."

Chloe smiles widely in response and Beca gets lost in the way her teeth shine for a second, and then she turns her head and it's gone.

* * *

Exactly eleven minutes of silence is interrupted by the Official knocking on their door, telling them they have to leave. Beca hates how they don't say more than one sentence. Are they expected to bring their bags? Will they come back or not? What are they even going to be doing?

She watches how Chloe grabs some stuff from her bag and stuffs it down her bra. Beca guesses they're not supposed to bring anything, so she quickly goes through her own bag. She finds the wooden stick she's painted first and hides it behind her back, halfway down her pants and the rest covered by her shirt. The tool is a bit harder to conceal; the piece of wood is thin which makes it easy to keep it close on her body, but the tool is rather inconveniently built Beca realizes now. She can't hide it behind her clothing, it would show immediately a square object.

The Official bangs on the door again, startling both girls who share a frightened look before Chloe jumps to the door and Beca hides the tool the only place she can think of; on the inside of her shoe. She has some trouble putting the leg of her pants over it to cover it completely, but Beca has a few more seconds thanks to Chloe who went to get the door before the Official barged in. She's kept the door on a crack, talking about something Beca can't quite make out, but she's whispering, so whatever she says is probably gonna work in her favor.

Which it does, because Beca's been able to hide both her weapons.

"Ready?" Chloe asks her when she appears next to her.

"Yeah." Beca replies, trying not to sound as out of breath as she feels. The Official gives her a second glance, then turns away and walks down the hall. Beca knows they're told to follow him without words, but Chloe's not moving.

Though she'd rather not drown in Chloe's eyes again, she looks up anyway and finds the girl chuckling. She assumes she failed at her attempt to sound normal, and she can't help her lips but turning into a smile as she rolls her eyes. "Go on!" She says between grinned teeth as she pushes the girl out the door.

 _Stupid Chloe Beale and her stupid ability to read her every face._

* * *

The Officials have led them into another big room, similar as the one they were first walked into when they got here earlier. This time, Beca doesn't observe the walls and the materials. The other eight Chosen ones are sitting at one big table. Beca recognizes the guy who's always got his head down before work begins back in the Factory, because he's doing the same thing right now. Head down on the table and his two arms surrounding in an awkward position, in Beca's opinion. There's no one sitting across from him, so Beca takes that seat.

She likes the boy. Likes that she doesn't have to worry about making conversation with him or things being awkward when she doesn't talk, that's usually how it is with people in Beca's life. But this guy is just as distant as she is, maybe even more. Beca didn't think that was possible.

"Welcome, Chosen."

The sound echoes through the building. There's no Official in the room and the voice doesn't sound like a real person, more like a machine who's been taught how to say words, but Beca decides not to focus on that right now.

"You have been brought here, because we believe everyone has potential to get the best out of themselves in desperate and extreme times."

Beca wonders what they mean by that. Who the ' _we_ ' is in this case, what extreme times they're talking about-

"Tomorrow, we will begin the program. Tonight, we will question each and every one of you separately."

"Wait, what?!" Beca gets eight pair of eyes on her as the words slip out of her mouth, only the boy in front of her keeps to himself. They're probably just surprised she speaks, but she ignores them as she leans back and hides half her mouth behind her clenched fist. "This is bullshit." She groans.

And it is. There's no reason for them to be separated from each other. The idea of being alone in a room full of Officials scares Beca more than she'd like to admit, and though she doesn't know anyone in this group, (well, except Chloe.. In a way..) she somehow feels safer in their presence, which is a totally new thing for Beca in general.

"Uhm, excuse me-" Beca heard the voice continuing after she let the two words escape from her thoughts, not listening to what was being said as she was too lost in her own mind, but now someone else is talking and Beca's quick to find the girl who's voice it belongs to. "-uhm, mister Voice man." The girl chuckles and it kind of remind Beca of the wounded dog she found after the city was destroyed. The dog was a mess, but it kept wagging his tail and followed Beca around everywhere. He had the cutest set of eyes and Beca thinks maybe that's what making her think of him right now, because the girl on the opposite side on the table, who's still smiling by the way, has big, brown eyes and she seems like a mess.

"What exactly are we going to be questioned about? It's just, I like to prepare, and I'm not sure what to expect here, so."

There's the smile again. It's awkward but not lacking any confidence. This girl reminds Beca of herself in a way.

"You will have time to ask questions when you're being interviewed one on one. Everything about the program will be explained to you."

The voice is monotonous, just like the meaningless words. Beca rolls her eyes so far back into her head, she actually feels a sting. The machine goes on about how everyone will be called in and after you're done, you're walked back to your room by an Official and you'll be offered food. Food sounds good to Beca.

She thinks about the nutrition she brought with her, wonders if she won't be needing them after all. She assumes the food they have here will be better than anything Beca packed along with her. But she's still not sure if she can trust these people, don't know what their intensions are with her. So far, they haven't treated her bad, but Beca's not nearly convinced they care about her well-being.

"Emily."

Beca watches the awkward girl across from her startle, her eyes drop and fear is showing if you look close enough. Beca blinks and just like that the girl's up on her feet, smiling at everyone in the group before heading out the door where Beca sees a group of Officials. Two lead the younger girl down the hall while the rest awaits. Then the door closes shut and it's just nine of them.

Beca's not sure if time is going very slow or if the girl has been gone for a while. Beca hopes it's the first of the two, though she's not sure why. It just feels like a bad thing the longer the girl stays in that room with Officials or elite's, Beca's not even sure who they're going to be talking to there.

Beca tries to count the minutes, but panic takes over her mind. She feels her hands getting sweaty and she suddenly feels trapped; the table is too close, the people are too quiet, the air in here is too warm. She's not sure what she's doing; all she knows is that she has to get out of here. Her feet are moving towards the place where the girl, Emily, disappeared through earlier, but before Beca's even reached it, the door gets thrown open. "I need to get out of here." Two Officials enter the room arms crossed and they don't really look impressed with Beca's attempt to flee.

"Sit back down, Chosen. Your name wasn't called."

The two men approach her slowly and it's exactly that moment that Beca feels the chopped off piece of wood against her skin. She's not afraid to fight these men, but truth is, they **are** twice her size and they'll have no trouble picking her tiny body off the ground to put her back in her place. She can't have them find the weapons, they'll take it away from her, to the least. "Sorry." She spits out and backs up to the table. She knows better than to turn her back on the enemy, but when she sees the men leaving the room and closing the doors, she feels safe enough to turn her sight back to the group.

She passes Chloe, who's standing a few feet away from the table, concern in her eyes, but Beca just shakes her head and sits back down. She knows all eyes are on her right now, but only for a few seconds, because the next name echoes through the room.

She watches the guy with the bad knee, Knee Guy as she nicknamed him, jump up and skip happily towards the door where again two Officials lead him further down the hallway. Beca wonders where the hall leads to.

Next to get called in is Jesse and Beca thinks it's stupid how everyone smiles before leaving. As if they're telling them it's ' _okay_ ' or ' _it'll be alright'_. As if they know.

After Jesse, the older pair is up. The woman, Gail, first and then John. They all take up about the same amount of time, Beca guesses around half an hour. The girl who Chloe talked to on the hovercraft walks through the door next. Her name is Stacie, apparently, and Beca hates how she has a perfectly fitting beautiful name.

After the beautiful girl, it's just her, Chloe, the tired guy who has not once picked up his head off the table, and a rather large girl. She looks older than Beca and when her name gets whispered by the machine, she's the only one who gets up without smiling. "Time to crack the jam." She says with her teeth grinned together and, though Beca has no idea what she means, she thinks she likes this girl.

When Chloe's also been gone for a good half an hour, the name 'Benji' gets called, but the only one left, apart from Beca, does not make any attempt to move. "Uhm, dude? I think that's you, 'cause it ain't me." She tries to make eye contact, moving up so she can see his face unblocked by his arms, but the guy keeps his focus on the grey metal. Beca tries it again, and then she hears the awful sound of those two doors getting thrown open again, followed by the noise heavy shoes make as they impact the floor, quick.

Beca doesn't look up, though. Repeating the young man's name, sounding more desperate every time, until the Officials have reached their table. There's five of them right now, two pick up Benji and drag him along, his feet drape over the floor behind the rest of his body. Two follow them closely and one stands next to Beca. "Don't you fucking touch him!" She knows it's useless, they're already halfway through the room, and the firm grip the Official has on her shoulder, keeping her down, lets her know she can't do anything about this. "Keep your filthy hands off of me, you pig!" She yells as she slaps his hand off of her. "Benji!" His body seems as lifeless as it did right here on the table moments ago, not resisting in any way. "You let him go-" Beca yells, but the sound of the doors closing again is louder than she could ever scream. "- right now."

Beca feels sick. Like her stomach turned, upside down and inside out. She feels weak, defeated. She didn't even try to stop them from taking Benji. The thought of what they might do to him makes Beca's fists clench and she can almost see how fast the blood is running through her veins.

Beca's angry.

But she doesn't have time to be, because just a few seconds after Benji's been dragged out of the room, her name roars through the empty walls.

"What? No, this-" She feels the Official who stayed behind move towards her. "But he **just** left!" Beca knows this can't be good. They must've taken Benji somewhere else. "He just left!" Beca backs up from the man, remembering what she has hidden on her body. "He just left, no!"

* * *

"You're back quick." Chloe tells her when she enters their room with a plate of food. It's true. Beca's conversation with the Officials and an elite woman couldn't have lasted longer than ten minutes, which worries Beca. Everyone else's talk was three times as long, Beca's not sure what to think of that. It can't be a good thing. They didn't tell her anything she didn't already know and they didn't even answer most her questions.

"Are you not gonna eat that?"

Beca knows she can't trust these people after this. She wants nothing that they give her or want her to take. "No." She replies as her eyes stare at the dropped food on the floor. Beca wonders what's really in those mashed potatoes, what kind of sauce is now spread across the room and part of the door.

"Wait-" Beca's eyes jump up to meet Chloe's on the other side of the room. The girl is lied down on her bed, tracing patterns on her bare stomach with her index and middle finger. "Where's your plate?"

"All finished, mom." Chloe mocks.

Beca's on Chloe's side of the room as soon as the words hit her ears. Her first thought is to scream, but when she sees Chloe's confused look, she's reminded that they're not close enough for Beca to just randomly start yelling at her, or doing anything at all, really.

"What?"

Chloe snaps her out of her thoughts. "Nothing." She says as she backs up towards her own bed again. "I just wish you hadn't."

"Why? It tasted delicious. I'm gonna start eating yours from the floor if you don't hurry."

Beca's eyes are drawn back to the girl when she ends her sentence with a giggle, starting an instant fire inside Beca's chest and she desperately tries to put it down by swallowing a few times. "You don't know what they put in there, Chlo."

Chloe turns her eyes away from her and shakes her head while dropping it down to her chest, smilingly. "You said the same thing that time my mom made us lunch, Beca."

Beca remembers that day. It was when Mrs. Howards wasn't feeling well and she couldn't teach them, so Chloe asked if she wanted to hang out in her bunker. Her parents were at work, so they spent the entire day running around the different rooms in the bunker. Beca relives that moment in her head, with the feelings rushing back through her veins and she feels like she's thirteen again, where the only worry she had was the things she felt inside when Chloe Beale held her hand.

"You're gonna have to trust some people, Becs."

"Maybe you're right." She says doubtful, but the memories that hit her just now have made her weak for the girl. Beca's never trusted anyone in her life, probably not even her own father. She's seen betrayal from up close so many times, she wouldn't even know how to trust someone if she wanted to.

"Here." Chloe makes her way over to Beca, kneeling down in front of her bed and picking up some of the food. "You should eat something."

Beca would really rather not. She still doesn't know why she was brought here and what they want her to do. And since they're starting the program tomorrow, Beca doubts they actually care about her and whether or not she's eaten. Chloe tells her she needs to have enough energy for tomorrow and Beca thinks that maybe that makes sense, that they want her to eat so she can make it through the day. They might have to do some heavy work or won't be able to have a break for a while, Beca guesses. So she takes the plate back from Chloe, who keeps her eyes on her until she finally takes a bite. It doesn't taste weird, Beca discovers as the potatoes slip over her taste buds and down her throat. It actually tastes the same as the ones she's used to in Second, only these are way better. Beca can't quite put her finger on what it is, maybe these have more flavor, or some secret ingredients.

"Told you it was good." Chloe giggles again and Beca realizes she's probably been bolting the food down like a hungry baby pig. She tells the girl, who's sat down next to her on her bed, that it's alright and then she's laughing again. Beca thinks of how much life has to be inside a person for them to laugh, actually laugh, eyes shrank and lips curled, causing her cheeks to pop out, to a point where she starts to hide her mouth in her hand as the noises she makes just continue. Beca wonders why she'd even hide such a thing. She knows she could look at Chloe's smile all day.

* * *

After a few minutes of silence, apart from the laughs out of Chloe and the sounds coming from Beca's mouth as she downs the food, she asks the redhead what the people have been telling her in that private time they requested.

"Probably the same as you. That we're going to the dead land tomorrow, and-"

"What?"

"Yeah, did they not..?"

"No."

Chloe tells her how the elite woman explained to her that the land is not too far away from here, maybe a two hour flight. They're being taken there in separate hovercrafts, because they have to start the program alone, the woman claimed, to see if they can figure things out on their own first. They will be picked up after they've spent six hours at the dead land to which they will be brought back to this bunker. Everyone has to share their findings with the elite woman who did the interviews earlier and they will get updated about what's going to happen next from there on out.

Beca doesn't quite understand why she was not informed with this. Is she not going? Are they taking her somewhere else? And why must everyone go into the dead land alone? That doesn't sound safe at all. Will there be Officials going with them for protection? Why have they not received instructions for what to do when something happens? Like if a mutant appears and she has to run away from the spot. Will the Officials search for her? Or, if she's not at the same place after six hours, will they just leave her there?

She doesn't say these things out loud, knowing that Chloe doesn't have the answers. She's told her everything she knows and Beca doesn't wanna worry her with these kinds of questions. No, these questions were meant for the elite, had they told Beca this face-to-face in the interview. Which could be the reason they didn't tell her.

Beca would ask too many questions.

* * *

They discuss the program for fourteen more minutes and Beca tells Chloe about the boy who was dragged out, Benji. How her name was called straight after he left the room, how she worries where they've taken him, how she hopes he can put up some kind of resistance against the Officials.

"I didn't know you knew him."

"Oh, I don't." Beca doesn't even know why she cares for the boy, but he's from home, he's familiar and it looks like he doesn't have much. Beca doesn't want him to feel like he's alone out here.

Chloe tells her they could try to break out of the room to find the young man, but the door was properly locked after Beca entered, and there's no windows or anything. Breaking out is impossible, but Chloe promises her they'll look for Benji first thing when they get back from the dead land.

Soon after that, Chloe moves back into her own bed and she tells her to get some sleep, because tomorrow will be a big day. But that's exactly the reason why Beca's up all night.

Her mind starts off at the motives of the elite, why they didn't tell her, why they have to be separated, why they took Benji. Thinking about The Rebuild tires her after a few hours, so her mind is taking her home. Beca thinks she probably would have eaten rice if she were home tonight. Her dad would've made awful jokes, anything to make the boys laugh at him, even if that meant stuffing rice down his nose and snorting it all out towards them. And then of course Melissa would tell him not to waste food. She was not wrong; no matter how much they'd have stored, there was never **too much** , there was never room to waste it. But her dad was just trying to make them forget about the life they are in, now. And Melissa hits reality hard back into their faces. She always would.

Beca doesn't like Melissa very much, but she can't say she knows her enough to dislike her. Whether she's around or not, it doesn't bother her, really.

Thinking about home makes Beca feel more empty than she usually does. Unable to deal with that feeling, Beca gets out of the bed and she starts to pace the small room, careful when placing her feet on the floor, because the last thing she wants is to wake Chloe.

Beca guesses it must be around 4 in the morning, because her legs are paining her in that way it always does when she hasn't had a good night's rest. Yet she doesn't stop pacing.

"Can't sleep?"

"Not really." Beca answers embarrassed and sits down on her bed instantly.

Chloe gets out of her bed and walks over to Beca. It all goes a little bit too fast for Beca to process, but before she knows it, she's being tucked in by Chloe Beale. She'd ask for an explanation, but Beca assumes staying quiet might be the best thing to do right now.

"Stay like this. Don't move a muscle for fifteen minutes straight, just stay laying exactly like this. Even though your thoughts are racing, your body will think you're asleep and it will shut off your mind, causing you to fall asleep."

Beca nods and closes her eyes, but she can feel that Chloe has not moved away from her bed and is probably watching her.

"I said, no moving." Chloe whispers firm.

"My feet was itching." Beca tells her, quickly opening one eye as she speaks, but closing it again when Chloe's eyebrows raise.

The girl tells her that it's her body's way of verifying if she's asleep. It sends triggers, like an itch or the sudden urge to move your arm, to check if you respond to them. You must ignore them in order to fool your mind, Chloe tells her, before ordering her to try again.

And Beca does.

And she can't tell what happened after that, because the next thing she hears after Chloe's order is an Official banging on the door, startling her awake, telling both girls they have one hour to get ready.

They leave for the dead land today.

* * *

 **A/N; I hope y'all like the people I've introduced in this chapter ;) Let me know as usual on here or via my Tumblr (lifeisbechloe) what you think so far!**


	4. Chapter 4

_TW: Specific mention of death._

* * *

Beca makes her way out of bed and starts by cleaning herself up. She changes her shirt again and stuffs the old one down her bag. After she's dressed, she figures it's a good thing to hide the weapons on her body again. The tool goes into the side of her shoe like before, just because there is literally no other place to hide it. And she wears the wooden stick on the front of her body now, as it's easier to get ahold of it that way. Just where her abdomen meet her right thigh, covered by her pants and her t-shirt. It's actually more comfortable than yesterday when she wore it on her back, because every time she sat down or moved up, the item poked out of her shirt a bit, which is why she had to keep her spine completely straight the entire time.

She goes through her bag for the millionth time. Her spare set of pants is on the bottom with all the food and water bottles on top of that, and her shirts above. She throws it over her shoulder and immediately feels how heavy it is on her body. The bag of rice is probably to blame for that, but she'd figured as much.

She won't take it out, though. They're supposed to just come back here tonight, so she could try and hide it in her room, if only she believed the people here. Maybe it's just Beca's trust issues again, but the simple fact that the elite woman did not tell her anything about this day in her interview, gives Beca the feeling that her gut is right about all of this.

She puts on her leather jacket as she wonders if she's being sent someplace else than the rest of the group. According to what Chloe's told her, they are all going somewhere else, so Beca wouldn't really know. But they're probably all going to the dead land; it would be obvious if you weren't in the dead land, Beca assumes.

As her mind's racing again, Beca decides it's probably best to stay as close to the point she'll be dropped off by the Officials later today. That seems like the best thing to do, because they probably won't go looking for her if she isn't there six hours later.

Beca is pretty good at keeping track of time. There's a big clock in The Factory and ever since she's started to work there, the ticking of every second passed has worked pretty calming for her. Unknowingly, she started to count them along with the ticking sound, and that went on as she made her way home. In her head, she's always ticking along with the big clock in The Factory. Even when she's not there.

Beca thinks she even does it in her sleep, because somehow she always awakes before the alarming systems that are built in all the bunkers go off. It's a light ringing through the house to alarm you it's six thirty. It only goes off once, for fourteen seconds. If it doesn't wake you up and you're late for work, you'll have missed a day of getting nutrition for your family. You are only allowed to miss so many days. Beca doesn't know how many days are _too much_ ; she's never seen anyone who has been fired for not being in on time.

* * *

When the Officials come to get them, Chloe and Beca are both set; jackets on and their bags hanging off of their shoulders. The two men walk upfront through the hallway and the girls follow until they reach the tiny cabinet again that takes them up and down the big bunker. Beca's being stopped by one man and Chloe gets pushed inside by the other. Beca doesn't fight this. She knows they have to go separately.

"I'll see you tonight." Chloe says with a small smile, which is still beautiful, but painful at the same time. Beca returns this by pressing her lips together. It's not even a smile, but it's the best she's got, because this feels like a goodbye. It feels like what Beca figures it would've felt like if she told Chloe she wasn't going to come back to school anymore, but instead was going to work to support the family.

It feels like she's never going to see Chloe Beale again.

The girl disappears when the doors close and when they open again, it's Beca's turn. The Official goes in first and she takes after him. Twenty-one seconds she's in there and then she's in a similar place she was in Second the day she left. Only here there are multiple hovercrafts, but it's basically the same. Beca can see a tunnel which is probably how they'll exit the bunker undergrounds.

The Official tells Beca to hurry, and since she doesn't see Chloe here, she guesses the next Chosen is right after her. She figures there's no reason in her rebelling right now, so she follows the man into the hovercraft and sits down on the floor. It feels like it's made of plastic and Beca runs her fingers over the engraved round circles in them. She guesses they are there for support, or grip. Doesn't know why else the entire flooring in the transportation vehicle would have these round prints on them.

She lies herself down when she hears the engine start and the craft moves underneath her body. She looks up into darkness with her hands folded under her skull to keep her head off the ground. She thinks of home. Simple things, like getting up to go to work and how the entire bunker would be quiet. She'd check up on the boys, who were always sound asleep, before she'd tiptoe her way out of the house. And she liked that bike ride to work, because it was just her and her thoughts. That moment was hers, every day. And she missed that today.

The Official exits the control cabin and Beca quickly puts her right hand over the wooden stick that's halfway down her pants. She reckons it's better to be save about this, because although you can't see the weapon through her shirt, she's not in for taking chances. Not on this. But luckily the man doesn't even give her a second look and passes her to stand in the back.

* * *

When the darkness in front of Beca's eyes is replaced with a light blue sky with few clouds covering it at places, she moves towards her bag instantly. She takes the shirt she wore yesterday and folds the right end towards the left top and rolls it up. She presses the folded shirt in front of her mouth and ties it up behind her head. When the shirt is wrapped around her skull tightly, Beca readjusts the part in front of her mouth so that it's now in fact also covering the end of her nose and everything below that.

She doesn't know when they'll enter the dead land.

Doesn't know where the transition lies between good and bad, alive and dead; clean air and sickening air.

And although Beca knows the shirt won't be able to cease infected air from entering her lungs, she somehow feels more protected like this. Also, it's the only thing she can do. If the enemy were a person, she could fight it. If it were something in her way, she'd go around it. But you can't go around oxygen. Beca's going to be there for six hours, she **will** breathe that air.

Maybe she'll know exactly when she's breathed in her last breath, maybe there's a certain smell or taste to the sickening air, and maybe it will kill her right away. Maybe she'll feel her lungs shrink more by the second, and she'll drop to her knees. And her death will be quick, and easy, and calm. No screams, no blood pouring out of her body, no time to think about what she's leaving behind.

But more likely, it won't be an easy death. It will weaken her first as the infection spreads through her system, shutting down her organs one by one as she feels herself dying. And it will be awful, and painful, and dreading. She'll have time to think of everything she's ever done, time to cry over everyone she's done wrong, and everyone she won't ever see again. There'll be enough time for her to gain hope that someone might rescue her, find her in the dead land and save her. She will try to yell, or leave messages in the sand, or dirt, or anything she can find. But that hope will eventually die out, and she'll give up. And even then, she'll have hours to ponder if someone will ever know how she died. Hours that will be filled with dark thoughts and feelings she never shared with anyone. And then, eventually, she'll feel how hard it's starting to get for her heart to pump blood through her veins, and she'll check if she can still move, but her right leg's only twitching uncontrollably, and her fingers don't respond to the signals she's sending them. And she'll die in crucifying pain. As if her body is imploding on itself, and there will be nothing she can do about it.

And if anyone ever finds her body, her mouth will still be open from screaming, with dried up dark blood stains over her lips, and her fists will be clenched like they always would when Beca felt endangered, and her eyelids will still be open, because no one's been around to close them. And maybe they will feel part of the pain she felt in her death just by looking at her corpse.

But they will get over it. Beca knows that no one would really be devastated if she died. Sure, her dad and maybe his wife and the twins would be sad. But they'd move on. There'd be people in Second that would notice her absence, but it wouldn't be more than mentally noted. Beca knows she doesn't have a lot of people in her life that care for her; she herself is to blame for that, really. And she knows she's nothing special. So maybe it would be okay if she died here.

Beca would be okay with dying.

* * *

The Official heads back into the control room after some time spent on deck. Beca's eyes follow him and watches as he sits down on one of the plastic chairs and he and the man controlling the vehicle start loudly laughing right away. Beca rolls her eyes and moves to the back of the craft, leaning over the side right next to the spinning fan. It is almost loud enough for her ears to drown out the men's laughter.

She doesn't see or hear any sign of life on the ground beneath her. All she sees are the top of trees, lots of trees. In the far distance, not behind them but on the left side of where they're flying, the trees end and some sort of open area lies there. Beca believes the trees look kind of healthy, which means there must be a water source nearby. From there on out, Beca tries to remember every little thing she sees that might help her. She reckons they have spent around an hour and a half in the craft, so they could be close to the drop off.

Beca actually sees a lot of open spaces in the far distance, now that she's paying attention to it. They're probably flying over the trees for a reason, so Beca can't see the dead land.

"We're almost here." The Official tells her as he grabs her by the arm. Beca only puts up minimal resistance, the hand is too strong for her to fight off, she can tell by his grip on her. He takes her to the middle of the vehicle, his hand still around her upper arm, but most of the pressure is released. Beca watches how they're lowering in height, the sky changes within the color blue and somewhere in the transition, Beca notices the exact type of Chloe's eyes. Just for a second, it's there. But then clouds take over her view and her old friend's eyes are no longer in the sky.

Then the leaves of trees start to rustle through the wind Beca now feels, her skin shivers at it and she can feel the goosebumps appearing on her arms. She doesn't remember when she took her jacket off during the ride, but she quickly snatches it off her bag that's lying on the floor. The Officials gives her space to put on the jacket and she intends to get her bag up from the floor while she's at it, but just before her hands reach far enough, a single leaf falls on the item.

They have few trees in Second, but she's seen leaves before, it's not supposed to be a big deal. Yet Beca is intrigued. The leaf almost covers her entire right hand and Beca's certain this is the greenest her eyes have ever seen. It's perfectly symmetrical, even the tiniest coves and creeks. It's beautiful, but Beca should've known better than to let her guard down, especially for such a stupid piece of plant.

It's not like she didn't feel the man's hands on her the second they found her hips, but the trigger didn't make it to her brain on time. When she feels her feet lose contact with the floor, she knows what's happening, but her brain is still not sending her limbs signals, because her eyes are still focused on the thing in her hand, and it's like she's paralyzed. But maybe her brain is sending triggers, because Beca **knows** what she should do. She knows what's going on, and she knows she should resist, or prepare, or do anything rather than making this extremely easy on the Official. And because she **knows** , her brain is most likely telling her useless body what to do. But the orders don't arrive, don't quite make it to her fingertips and hands. It's like her mind is at a different place than her body, and it's pinging her shell, but the transmit failed, leaving her with an connection error she doesn't understand.

She sees the head of a tree from up close as she feels her feet dragging over the side of the hovercraft. She can almost feel the branches covered with leaves touching her face, but then the man's hands are gone and Beca remembers how someone once told her that the last thought you have in this life is important, as it's all you get to take with you. So she tries to think of something beautiful, maybe a memory with her mom and dad, when the world was still a world, but she's empty. She has zero thoughts as she sees the ground coming closer and closer, yet she doesn't close her eyes.

Closing them seems like a weakness. And she feels like she has to see this, has to see the last few seconds she has on this earth, even if all she sees is grass. Beca thinks of how she's kind of glad her body is paralyzed. She gets to leave this world brave and fearless. There won't be blood or tears or screams, just her numb body. And that would be what she wanted. Wasn't it?

It's almost funny how time stands still in those few seconds she's weightless, because to Beca it feels like she's been freefalling for hours. Maybe someone snapped his fingers and the whole world has paused, because everything is quiet, and peaceful. All the pain inside Beca is left behind in that hovercraft. She hasn't felt this alive in a long time. And it's a damn shame death follows so quickly.

Just before her rather small body impacts the ground, she shuts her eyes close anyway, putting pressure on every muscle she has in her face, and then there's only pain. For a split second, everything hurts, and then it's gone again.

* * *

Beca never thought she'd open her eyes again after that fall, but here she is, staring at the tiny blades of grass. She has this annoying ring in her ears that gets louder and louder, almost bringing physical pain to her head. She flips her body so she's lying on her back, but immediately the crucifying pain she felt as she hit the earth is back. She can't even pinpoint what parts of her body are hurting, it's all overwhelming and it takes everything inside her to fight against her mind blacking out. Which is when she feels blood on her forehead.

Not just blood, she wouldn't be surprised of that, but dried up blood. It doesn't even leave stains on her right hand. And when she looks down at her leg, it's already bruised. She searches the sky for the vehicle that took her here. She can't see it anymore and she doesn't hear the engine or the fan. Which can only mean one thing.

She has passed out.

When she hit the ground, she must have. Because blood doesn't dry that fast and legs don't bruise that quick. And since it feels like Beca woke up straight after the fall, she has no idea how long she was out, which means there's no way for her to know when the six hours have passed.

Beca lifts herself up with her right arm, because her left arm hurts too much when she puts pressure on it. While seated, she can see one of her shoes lying about twelve feet away and her bag is another few feet away. They must've thrown that after her, because she can't remember taking it. It takes her a few minutes to adjust to the pain she's feeling, and then she decides to check herself for injuries. She remembers she fell from where there were still leaves, and as she can now see clearly, this tree only has leaves up in the top. Which is approximately twenty-two feet up high. Beca doesn't know if that's enough to kill you, but apparently not.

She starts by lifting her one good leg of her pants, the one that was still fairly whole. Just cuts and bruises, like was already shown on her other leg that had ripped her pants and put part of her knee and shinbone to visibility. She didn't think she'd broken them, because she fell horizontally and not straight on her legs. Although that doesn't say anything, but she can move them and that's enough for her. Next up she checks her torso with her right hand. She doesn't feel any ribs sticking out, so the pain she feels is all inside. She inspects her arms just by looking at them. Her right one is fine, working and barely hurting her. But she still can't move her left arm without feeling like dying. At first, she doesn't see anything in particular, just blood stains and dirt. But from the corner of her left eye, she startles. Her shoulder is way closer to her face than it should be. And she doesn't really need to touch it to feel it's dislocated, but she does anyway.

She shrinks at the touch, and a grinned moan slips between her teeth. She's gotten so used to putting a big face on, she can't help but keep her pain inside even if there's no one around to see her. Which is something she's only just realizing, so she puts her hand back on the dislocated shoulder. She intends on doing it quick, but the pain is bringing her to sweat and she remembers how her dad once told her about that man that bit off his own tongue, because of the extreme pain he was under. That's not something she would like to see happen, so she takes her hand away again, grabbing the wooden stick she made back in Second out of her jeans and pressing it between her teeth. The item is a little bit too big for her mouth, but it's all she's got. Her hand moves again, this time firm and resolute, as if she knows exactly what she's doing.

She doesn't, though. But the pain she feels when her shoulder pops back, lets her know she probably did it right.

She falls to her back, panting and sweating, and she screams. She starts screaming and just doesn't stop. It's not even the pain that's causing her to scream. It's anger. Although pain brings her anger, so in the end, it may still be because of the pain. It's like when she tried to use the bike she made herself for the first time. She fell almost immediately, face first and her limbs following. Now, she really didn't have to mess up the bike as much as she did after her encounter with the ground, but that's how she deals with pain. It angers her, makes her grin her teeth and clench her fists to the point where she literally has to hit something to get rid of the rage inside of her.

Which is probably why she's pounding her fists at the dirty grass right now. Only using her right hand, though, as her left arm lays weak. And she continues to scream and hit until she's drained. Until everything is out of her system. And then she feels only pain.

It's almost funny how Beca had planned what to do and what to look at when she'd arrive in the dead land, thinking she could be in control of whatever happened. Thinking they'd let her be in control. But lying on the grass, bleeding and, what feels like, dying, Beca knows they were never gonna give her a chance.

The shirt she had folded around her face is now lying underneath her pained arm. Beca decides the pain of lifting her arm should be worth it in the end, if it means she won't die of suffocation or some weird lung disease. After moving her left arm up with her right hand and trying to pull out the t-shirt from under her with that same hand, she's too tired to wrap the item around her head, so she just holds it in front of her mouth. Satisfied, she lies down, relaxing every part of her body as she tries to take in the pain. Accept it, embrace it, so it can be her new standard. Beca's always had pain inside, this is no different. She just needs to let it in and get used to it, and then she can go on.

Go on to what, she doesn't know. But getting up from the ground would be the first step she'd take. And after twenty minutes, that's exactly what she does. Lifting her torso up and her knees meeting her chest, she rolls to her, one working, hand and knees. It takes her a few tries, but eventually she's up on her feet.

She's feeling rather dizzy and she can't get her eyes to be brought to focus, so she just stands there in the middle of a field, her body swaying lightly from left to right, winking excessively to try and get her sighting sharp.

What feels like hours passes by while Beca hasn't done anything in the dead land yet. It rises a fire inside of her that gets her moving. Stumbling over to her shoe in the distant, she fixes the shirt in front of her mouth with a knot in it again, so she can use her right hand to put her shoe back on. It takes her a few interferons with the ground, but eventually Beca has regained her shoe and her bag. She takes her weapons and stuffs them down the bag as she wonders whether or not to change her pants. She probably wouldn't even be able to get out of it with only one functioning arm, so she leaves it the way it is.

After another few minutes of doing nothing but rubbing her eyes, Beca finally regains part of her vision. Her head is still hurting like hell and her ears are still ringing, but at least she's able to see again. First only up close; grass, a big field, trees surrounding her every being. But then the fog around clears and she wishes she would be able to see anything beyond trees, but that's literally all there is.

And if she could go back in time right now, she would have never brought that bag of rice with her, because the bag feels like it just contains rocks right now. But she lifts it anyway with a painful sound that slips out of her mouth faster than she was able to suppress. It's a mix of a sigh and a moan, and it reminds her of that time Chloe gave her an unannounced backrub during English class and a similar sound echoed through that school bunker, leaving Beca with a face as red as a tomato, slapping Chloe's hands off of her body and the redhead laughed for the rest of the day.

She wonders if Chloe is okay as she starts to walk into the woods with her bag thrown over her shoulder. Wonders if everyone else got thrown overboard from a good twenty feet as well, or if the man just didn't like her at all. Wonders if the others are even at the same place she is. Wonders if they're all alright. Wonders if they will stay put and wait until the six hours have passed, or if they have started walking like Beca has.

There's not much ' _dead_ ' to find in this land, though, Beca realizes the further she goes. The grass they have in Second is mostly just a tad of green and overall brown, bare spots everywhere and it's been walked on so much, everything is just pressed into the ground. But here, the shiny green blades of grass actually stand up to face the sky. The trees stand beautifully tall. And Beca even spots flowers every now and then. She doesn't know what they're called, because when the biology teacher was explaining plants to them, Beca figured she'd never need that information anyway, so instead of finding differences in daisies and dandelions, Beca studied the way Chloe's lip would twitch and her eyes would shrink when she couldn't find the answer, and when she did, how her eyes lit up at the compliment of the teacher and always finding Beca's to share a smile.

She never realized how obsessed she became with Chloe Beale's facial structures, until she couldn't read them anymore.

* * *

Beca has been walking in a straight line from the place where she was dropped, but now the trees are forcing her to decide to go left or right. She looks back, still being able to see the big tree that she has marked mentally as hers. It's a good fifty feet away, but closer than Beca thought it would be. The weight on her shoulders and her still hurting limbs are the cause of her believing she walked at least a mile.

She decides it's best to keep moving, but not before she's engraved a big X in a tree, using her, surprisingly, sharp piece of wood. Instead of putting it back in her bag, she keeps it firm in her right hand as she takes the left turn, for no apparent reason.

After walking for a good thirty minutes, Beca can still see the tree she has damaged. Her legs can't carry her body fast enough, her pace is barely anything but one step a minute, and as much as she tries to move her feet faster, they just won't listen. Her legs took quite a hit, as the rest of her body, but they are not severely damaged. So the fact that they won't do what Beca wants them to do, pisses her off. Her head is still spinning and the ringing in her ears had not gotten any less, which also gets on her nerves right now.

She fists her right hand and grins her teeth before hitting the closest tree she can find. Six times. And then she drops down. Blood runs down her hand, but Beca doesn't feel any pain. Adrenaline still rushes through her body, so she doesn't feel anything but that right now.

She sits against the tree, her hand on her hurt shoulder as she thinks of what to do next. Walking tires her too much, brings more pain to her body than if she's seated. And maybe a break wouldn't be a bad thing. She could use some water and she should really check on her injuries again. The grazes on her legs are not even bleeding anymore, so she lets them be. She has a cut on her stomach that she didn't notice earlier, so she cleans that with minimal water.

Beca takes her jacket off and immediately feels it stick to her arm, which is not a good sign. She rips it off through the pain, and it's obvious her previous body check was done when she wasn't fully conscious, because her left arm is worse than she thought. By taking her jacket off, she accidentally ripped open all the grazes on her arm, which are a lot more than Beca remembered seeing. Blood is pouring out of her fast, and Beca really doesn't wanna ruin one of her clean shirts, but she knows she can't leave these wounds open and exposed. She doesn't know much about infections, but she knows it's not good to leave injuries exposed. She puts some water out of her bottle on her hand and runs it over her left arm. It stings like hell, but Beca doesn't pull away. That would be a waste of her water.

When she thinks it's clean, or as clean as it's gonna get, she wipes the blood away with some fallen leaves that she's seated on, but new blood comes boiling out just as fast. Beca knows she has to cut off the blood line with something, but her shirt is not gonna do that trick. Even the shirt around her skull is hanging loose and needs to be re-tightened every hour or so. She needs something that can be pulled really tight, and her eyes find her ripped trousers.

In no time, Beca has been able to cut off the leg of her jeans with her knife on the small tool her dad gave to her. She tights it around her upper arm and she doesn't stop until she feels her fingers becoming numb. She figures that would be tense enough.

When her arms are both fixed up the best she can, she moves her hand to the last place on her body she knows needs some attention. It's quite a deep cut by the feel of it, running from her hairline down to her eye. Beca can't see it, but she thinks it's mostly closed up, so cleaning it won't be necessary. She thinks.

* * *

Beca was intending to stay put for a little while longer to regain her strengths, but the ringing in her ears are overruled by another noise. An engine. Beca quickly rises to her feet and checks the sky to confirm her thoughts, but there's nothing. Yet the sound grows louder, and just when she thinks she's going crazy, she spots it. It's still far away, but a hovercraft is flying over the trees, and Beca's feet are moving as fast as they can. It's a mix of hopping and walking, rather than actual running, but at least she's moving.

She keeps her eyes on the vehicle hanging in the sky, who's coming closer and closer to Beca's tree. The tree where she was freefalling next to hours ago. She has almost passed the X sign she made earlier when her feet start to resist. They falter while the rest of her body continues to move forward, causing her to fall face first to the ground.

She had her doubts to whether or not they would come back for her, but the proof is right here and all Beca has to do is get up and walk a few more feet. It sounds easy, but her body is aching. It has taken severe hits and she's not sure she can make those last feet. But while she's doubting herself, her legs move to pull her up and she's quickly back on her feet. She's moving again, slowly and stumbling, but she has passed the mark, which means about fifty feet is between her and her ride home. Or at least away from here. And it sounds really easy, these things Beca has to do. She just needs to keep walking and the men will see her and they will bring her back to the bunker, where there's food and a bath and hopefully a doctor, or at least medicine. And there's really no decision there to make for her. There is no other choice than to keep moving towards the craft. Until her ears catch a sound.

And Beca's not sure when her ears have stopped ringing, but they have. And she has stopped in her tracks to listen better to the sound her ears have caught. It doesn't take long until she hears it again, louder and better this time, sending chills down her spine at how painfully panicked the screams sound. Beca's not sure who's voice it is that is screaming so loudly, it makes the trees shake, but there's familiarity in it. The voice is high and wobbly, screams escaping their owner's mouth in panic and fear. And Beca can almost feel their fright.

It's not Chloe, she knows that much. Because Chloe doesn't run away from something, definitely not out of fear. Besides, Chloe's voice sounds different than this one. But Beca can't put her finger on who the voice belongs to.

Which is when she sees two shadows running through the woods, the screams obviously belonging to one of them, because the sound follows them. And Beca wish time would stand still again like that moment just before her collision with the ground, so she could have time to figure out what to do. Time to figure out what the screams mean. Time to figure out why the Official's hovercraft is lowering. Time to figure out why the man is holding his gun.

But there is no time, so Beca moves before she can make a decision. Moving to the place where she last saw the shadows between the trees. Her feet still oppose, but they're moving faster than earlier as Beca forces one in front of the other, hand on her hurt shoulder, making herself as small as possible as she skips through the trees. The adrenaline makes her run faster, somehow, because even though she doesn't know the danger, the fact that there **is** danger near, makes her heart beat faster and her alertness grow.

She throws a quick look behind her, but she doesn't spot the Official, or anything for that matter, but she doesn't slow down. She just thinks it's safe to call out to the two people running. She can never catch up to them, not even with her boost of energy. She is simply too weak.

"Hey!"

She can't think of anything better to yell, hoping it will do, she calls out two times more until she gets an answer, which is ironically the same word Beca has been shouting.

"Hey!"

Beca just keeps running towards the sound, changing her course as she skips through the trees, but always in the same direction, until her legs can't move anymore. She trips, over nothing particular, and Beca falls down for the umpteenth time today. She fights hard to stay conscious and not pass out, but she freaks out when she feels fresh blood running down her face.

She has a minor mental breakdown, for just a second, where she thinks of giving up. To just keep lying here in the grass and let, whatever she's running away from, catch her. She doesn't think she can do this anymore, doesn't want to do this anymore, doesn't want to get up again.

But then the voice is back, speaking, no longer screaming, but not with any less fear inside it. And it's then that Beca recognizes it. Maybe because it's so close to her, maybe because it's no longer high-pitched, but simply whispered. Maybe it just hit her. But she looks up from the ground to confirm her findings, and she finds two teens bent over her.

One is a guy, Beca thinks. But she can't get her eyes to focus on him. Instead, they just stare at the girl. The awkward girl who sat in front of her on that table. The first one to be called into for the interview. The one with the eyes like a wounded dog.

"Beca, come on, we have to go!"

Beca sees the girl's mouth move, but her eyes stay focused on the giant cut she has on her face. A bloody scar from the corner of her left eye down her young face to the very end of her jaw.

"Beca, let's go, now!"

It was the guy's voice, Beca heard it. But she's still trying to figure out the girl's name. She knows it, she remembered it, told herself to remember it. But it's like she can't remember anything right now. The two pick her up and Beca lets them, waiting for her feet to find the ground again before she starts moving, arms around the boy and the girl as the three of them together move through the woods. And then Beca remembers her name.

 _Emily._

* * *

 **A/N: I have been staring at this chapter so long, I started to hate it, so I decided to just publish it and see if I can make things better next chapter xd Thanks for the nice words and hello to the new followers! Let me know as usual what you think ;) Tumblr = lifeisbechloe**


	5. Chapter 5

Beca feels her limbs resisting against the force she's putting on them; they won't push itself off the ground anymore, instead they drag over the fallen leaves and the dirt underneath it, and Beca's glad the two younger people can carry her weight for every few steps. By the feel of Beca's body, it's like she and the others have been roaming the woods for hours, but her mind has been counting, or trying to at least, roughly forty minutes, she reckons.

She tries to keep focused, tries to keep her vision clear by blinking excessively, which strangely enough works, but her head is pounding. It's like someone is continuously stabbing her in the left side of her head. The pressure in her temple is getting to the point where Beca almost feels her eyes getting pushed out of her skull, so she closes her eyelids and lets out a groan that wasn't controlled.

"Beca, are you okay? Beca?!"

It was the guy's voice, but Beca can't bring up the energy to lift her head from her chest and see which one of the four males it was. She knows it's not John; this guy's probably not even gone through puberty yet, she can tell by his low and cracked voice.

"Em, she's burning up, we have to stop."

She knows it's not Jesse, because she likes to think she would be able to recognize his voice. Although she can't remember what it sounds like now. Come to think of it, she can't even remember his face, what he was wearing, how tall he is. All she remembers of Jesse is his smile. The smile that made Beca wonder if it hurts his cheeks as his sides come dangerously close to reaching his ears. The smile that shows basically all of his shiny, white teeth and she's pretty sure if she looked up to his eyes, she would've found they shine as well. But she didn't. She just remembers the smile.

If she's right and it's not in fact Jesse, and she knows for sure this isn't John, that leaves two guys left for her to choose. Who were the other ones? Beca can't seem to remember, the pain is her body is either taking up her every thought, or the fall did a bigger number on her than just a dislocated shoulder.

"Who is this?" Beca is able to ask, slowly and out of breath, as she feels how she's being lowered to the ground. Her back is against something solid, but she doesn't want to waste her energy on figuring out what it is. Her eyelids linger as she tries to open them, Beca feels as though they are glued together and it takes all the power inside of her to get them opened. Again, she can't see clearly. It's all blurry and in purple light flashes. She can make up the shape of the girl, Emily, who's not standing too far away from her, bent forward with her hand on Beca's forehead.

She didn't feel the contact, but she goes with her first instinct, which is pushing the hand off of her. The shape of the girl moves to her knees, her face closer this time and Beca blinks seven times until Emily's face is as clear as she's going to get it. The girl's eyes are filled with hope and kindness, and her face screams worries at Beca; she probably looks like hell. But Beca can't make herself care about what she looks like, especially not after what she found next on the girl's face.

Now, if Beca was able to form words, she would simply ask Emily how she got that giant cut that runs down the entire course of her face, but she doesn't have the strength to do anything right now. Subconsciously, her lips part and close again, trying to get her mouth to speak, but no sounds are created.

Beca feels a hand on her shoulder and her entire body tenses immediately, but her eyes stay on the young, damaged girl. She knows this is not just an ordinary cut that you get from a fall or something. This one is deep, the left half of her face is covered in dark blood,

"Beca, look here, please."

Beca hears it, somewhere in the back of her mind there's an order telling her to look, but her body doesn't move, can't move, and her eyes just keep following the line of the scar on the girl's face.

"Beca, my name is Benji, you-"

The guy must be just as surprised as Beca that her head made such a quick move, because he has stopped talking and is just looking back at her. Beca's pretty sure the snap fractured her neck, but she'll think about that later. Right now, she has to investigate Benji. Make sure he is okay. There's bruises on his face, but nothing else draws her attention.

After she watched him being dragged out of the huge room back in the bunker, Beca didn't think she'd ever see this boy again. She never even saw his whole face like she does now, and he's smiling at her. His short, light-brown hair and his lost look make him look even more innocent.

"It's alright." The boy smiles. "I, uhm, you're running a fever."

Benji explains how he's going to put water on her face to try and cool her down, and Beca lets him. The cold water is kind of nice and her face instantly regains its reflexes, being awakened by the liquid. The two teenagers clean her up in silence and Beca just stays still, enjoying the way her legs don't have to be put pressure on.

She plans to check on her left arm when Emily hands her a water bottle and signs for her to drink a little. Beca does. She's forgotten when she has had water for the last time, but she knows it's been a while. Hey eyes skim over her pained arm. The bleeding has stopped, so Beca unties the piece of clothing she had wrapped around her arm. The wounds still don't look good. They're open and a lot of dirt has gone into it. She doesn't know why she sticks her finger in there, but she regrets it right away, slipping a 'fuck' between her grinned teeth out, only for herself to hear.

"Oh, no, that doesn't look too good."

Beca smiles at the boy, maybe to put him at ease, because truthfully it doesn't burn as much as it did earlier on the day. It will heal in time, Beca tells herself. For now, water has to do.

Benji has taken a seat next to her, but Beca notices how Emily keeps looking around them, searching for something, which is when she realizes they were running away from something. Or someone? Beca parts her lips to ask Emily which one of the two it is, when the three of them startle because of the rustling of fresh, thick leaves in the woods behind them.

"We should go." Beca speaks while the two others help her get up and they quickly gather their belongings and presume their way into the forest, heading into the opposite direction of where allegedly the noise came from. Beca's not sure it actually came from that direction, but it makes sense since they came from that side. And it's better to be moving in whatever way that is, than to sit and wait to be attacked.

"What are we actually running from?" It comes out more angry than Beca intended, but she's exhausted and the muscles in her legs starts to tense up again. Not to mention how she can barely see anything due to her dizziness and her vision's messing with her again, showing clear images, but everything's doubled now.

"We need to hide." The young kid speaks through fear.

The two are not actually "kids", but Beca sees them that way. They're maybe three years younger than she is, the girl probably a bit younger than the guy. Or maybe that's just because Beca can see the emptiness in his eyes, in the same way she saw his weak body being dragged out by the Officials. Beca thought it was painful to watch, to see how little life there can be in a person. He wasn't even resisting in the slightest, he just let everything happen. He didn't care about the price he was going to pay for not obeying orders. Benji looked older to her, because he has that face of someone who's been through a lot.

Yet, here he is now, running away from a danger close to them, suddenly caring about his own life. Or about the two girls', which Beca finds hard to believe. No one would go that length of trouble for people they don't even know.

"We can't hide anywhere, Benji."

Beca feels the guy pulling abruptly to a stop, Beca has no choice but to follow because half her body's weight was guided by the guy, which makes the girl on her other side stop her pace as well. Beca can't see his face very clearly, but she can behold how Benji searches the premises around them. Eight seconds pass by with them doing nothing at all, awaiting for the danger to catch up on them, until the boy lets out a hurried 'there!' and then they're moving again.

Beca doesn't even bother to ask what he saw and where exactly the 'there' is, she's too tired to ask questions. Which is so unlike Beca. She's never trusted anyone with anything, let alone anything that has to do with her. Yet she's trusting these teenagers with her life right now. Maybe she's not really trusting them. Maybe she's just given up the fight. Accepted she's going to die here. And the images of Benji being dragged out of that cold, empty room pop up on her retina, reminding her that she is the weak, lifeless boy right now, not caring about what's going to happen to her. So much that that thought doesn't even scare her.

It's not long until Beca's being lowered to the ground again, but this time when she looks up, she doesn't see Emily nor Benji in her nearby surroundings. She immediately tries to regain better sight by excessive blinking, which worked earlier, but not this time. It's probably because she's panicking and her mind knows it. "Uhm.." She needs to get the two's attention, but she doesn't wanna sound as scared as she actually is. She's not even sure the two are still around, because she doesn't get any response. "Guys?" She tries. She wouldn't even be surprised if Emily and Benji left her here, she was certainly slowing them down in their escapement. She'd probably do the same if it was the other way around. But then she hears an 'oh, right' with footsteps to follow and she realizes that not everyone is as selfish as she is.

Benji helps her up and tells her they found something before sliding his arms underneath her knees and head, picking her up and carrying her. Beca doesn't even resists. She knows she couldn't set another step if she tried. And it's right there in Benji's arms that Beca gives up fighting against the pain. She feels her arms losing its strength and they fall awkwardly besides her body as she breaks out in sweat. She thinks she hears Benji talk to her, but she can't quite make up words as her mind goes blank and darkness takes over her view. And she knows she's gonna pass out a second before she actually does.

* * *

Beca watches her dad being ripped to pieces by three mutants before her eyes fly open and she sees two worried faces. It takes her a minute to realize it was a dream, and then it takes her another to realize where she is. Not specifically where, because she doesn't recognize the place, but the fact that's she's not in Second.

"Oh thank God, I didn't think you were gonna wake up."

The girl looks like she's close to tears, which Beca will never understand. Having so many emotions in a world like this will be the death of you. And if it doesn't actually kill you, it'll make sure you will feel dead.

"I'm fine. Just passed out." Beca lifts herself up from the floor and sits up straight. Her head doesn't hurt as much anymore, neither do her legs, which makes her wonder how long she was out for. The question slips through her lips as easily as the thought had entered her mind.

"I.. I don't know." The two share a few confused looks before Benji speaks again. "Maybe, twenty minutes?"

Twenty minutes is good, Beca reckons. She's fine, better than before she fainted, and the two teenagers also appear to be okay. Emily still has that giant cut on her face, Beca's pretty sure that has something to do with why they were running through the woods, and Benji's face is bruised, but nothing major. Beca believes the Officials must have done that to him yesterday.

Beca realizes only after inspecting herself and her small group that they're no longer outside. They're inside what seems like an old, big vehicle. There's all these seats and windows, and Emily explains how they found a school bus that's fallen halfway into a swamp and so well covered in moss, you could easily pass by it without noticing what it actually was. Beca's actually impressed the two found this. It seems like a perfect hiding place. The windows are turned a despicable shade of green, making it impossible to look out, but better yet, to look in. The back of the bus is partly in the marsh, Beca notices how the front, where they're seated, is higher than the other end of the vehicle.

"What do you think?"

Emily's eyes are filled with excitement and hope, and Beca still doesn't understand how anyone can even remotely put up a smile after what they've just been through, but Beca smiles back. It's weak, and doesn't nearly reaches the girl's level of positivity.

"I think this can work. We can rest and clean ourselves up, maybe in that pond. Then tomorrow, we move."

Benji tries to argue with her, telling her he's not quite sure why they should move, and where they should move to. And if Beca's honest with herself, she has no idea what to do. But staying in one place is guaranteed to get you into trouble, she knows that much. "How about we start with telling each other what happened today." Beca needs to know what they were running from, if the two were also thrown out of the hovercraft, why the Official in Beca's return ride held up a gun.

Emily takes the lead and starts off by telling how the elite woman in her interview told her they were gonna be in the dead land for six hours, which matches the story Chloe told her. Beca would never doubt Chloe's words, but since Beca wasn't told the exact, or even remotely, same story, she was curious whether she was the only one who didn't get the info or if the elite just changed stories depending on who entered their room.

Benji doesn't speak up, so Beca guesses he was told the same thing. Or maybe he wasn't told anything, because Beca was called out right after he left. Did he go in after her? Did they bring him somewhere else? Tell him anything at all? Beca interrupts Emily and asks Benji about his interview experience. He looks uncomfortable, staring at the movements his hands make, he cringes at the question. Now, normally, Beca would never put anyone in a situation where they're not at ease, but she needs to know this.

Instead of Benji answering the question, Emily speaks up, telling her how he returned to their room shortly after the Officials had a talk with him, and Beca understands what kind of " _talk_ " they had, because Emily's eyes scan Benji's fallen face and Beca hadn't realized they were holding hands up until now.

"Oh, you guys shared a room?" Beca asks, feeling like an intruder in this moment the two are sharing. Benji seems broken, but with the girl's hand in between his, he can't rub them against each other nervously anymore, and his eyes lighten a little when he looks at Emily.

"Yes. I was lucky, because, like, I knew Benj' a little from back home. So, it wasn't really weird. Maybe a little." Emily giggles. "But, I think we're.. We're friends, right, Benj'?"

It reminds Beca of her first encounter with the girl, which seems like weeks ago, at the table where she sat across from her, being an awkward mess right before her name was called. Beca thinks back about that moment, and how she just should've escaped that place, hide somewhere in the huge bunker, or jump out of that hovercraft when they were flying so low and close to Second. But Beca didn't do anything. She did exactly what the Officials wanted her to, and now she's here. In the dead land. Not sure when she's going to die, but pretty sure she will.

"Okay, so anyway, what happened when you arrived here?"

Beca doesn't mean to be rude, she just wants the full story so they can decide what to do. But nothing about Emily's story rings any alarm bells. Both of them were dropped off separately, but normally, and even given two pieces of bread before the Officials left. Beca doesn't tell them about how she was thrown out of the hovercraft. She'll save that for later. And Emily continues, about how she found Benji close to where she was dropped off, leaving Beca to think that maybe they're not all that far away from each other. To which she almost jumps up to go find Chloe. Not assured she actually is nearby, just because Emily found Benji, and the two of them found Beca, doesn't mean everyone is in the same area. And even if she was, she might have been picked up by the Officials. Emily and Benji were fleeing at the time the Officials were supposed to come, and Beca saw the proof with her own eyes. The Officials did come back for her. And something tells her that if they would come back for her, they would definitely go back for the others.

"Which is when I saw him."

Beca missed a part, but Emily's talking about how Benji went to search the woods around them, leaving Emily alone. She missed who she saw, though. An Official, Beca assumes. Did they have guns like the one in Beca's craft? That still doesn't explain how she got the cut in her face, though. Did she miss that part, too? She tends to spend more time in her thoughts than in the girl's actual words, which is very Beca-like.

"He looked different. I thought, maybe he was hurt.. So I.. I went over to him."

"Wait, who was it?"

Emily's eyes start to water and Benji places a hand on her back, his head down as if they're both defeated in a way. And Beca allows them time to answer. Twenty-seven seconds she counts until Benji opens his mouth.

"It was Bumper."

 _Bumper_. Beca searches every inch of her memory, but the name doesn't say anything at first. She knows by now she must have hit her head quite hard and she suffers from some sort of amnesia. Which is fine, but not right now. _Bumper_. The name rings a bell, but nothing Beca can put a face to. But the two people knew him, so it must be someone back from Second. What would someone from Second do here? _Bumper_. Bumper was a name that was called. On the Town Square in Second and in the enormous bunker. _Bumper_. The person that left the table after Emily. _Bumper_. The bad, knee guy.

"He has this.. It wasn't really a sword, it was.. He had this knife, and.."

That's all Beca catches through Emily's sobs, but it's enough for the story. Bumper attacked Emily and the two fled from him. It's not weird they ran from him. Bumper is a rather largely built man. Not much older than them, but stronger and armed. Emily is way too innocent to ever hurt someone, Beca reckons. And Benji isn't the type to fight, either. You can see the guilt in his eyes as Emily softly cries onto his shoulder, and it's heartbreaking to watch. This is exactly why Beca refuses to trust anyone, why she refuses to be weak and helpless. Because the guilt over not doing something usually overrules the feeling of guilt over doing something, whether that's a mistake or not.

Beca feels suddenly strong again, she rises to her feet quickly. "I'm gonna check the area." She says as she passes the couple and it takes some force to get out of the doors, because these used to be mechanically controlled, but Beca manages to break one side open, and she closes it after she's out.

* * *

It's gotten darker outside, and by the way Beca remembers seeing the stand of the sun back in Second, she takes a guess it's around seven o'clock. If she does the math (leaving the bunker in the morning, staying here for six hours until the hovercraft came back, running and hiding for maybe a total of two) it could be about right.

Beca watches the school bus. It is indeed very well hidden. The branches of trees cover the entire left side of the vehicle, where the moss continues to overlay the bus like a coat. The yellow color is still noticeable, just less bright as it probably was. Beca remembers seeing similar school busses like this one drive through her street early in the morning. She was always jealous of the kids who got to ride it. Her mom told her that five year olds should be brought to school by their parents and not a stranger.

Beca checks the front of the vehicle and there's still one mirror intact. It's one of those that maximizes vision for the front of the vehicle, for the driver to see into his blind spot close to the front part of the bus. It's partly broken at the very end, and Beca takes her wooden weapon to get the item off. She's glad it's already broken, because her strength isn't completely back in her body, and she still can't use her left arm. But with a few hits, the mirror comes off, together with the black vision shield. Beca's not sure how, but she's sure they can use it at some point. Whether it's to check out some injuries, or to beat a mutant head's in, Beca knows she won't regret carrying this extra weight.

After she's put the item into her bag, she throws it over her shoulder and moves down to the back. Emily was right about the bus's end slipped into a swamp. It's not much, but the little bit of water there is, seems clean. Well.. Not particularly clean. Just like the windows of the bus, the water is tainted green and some leaves are swimming in the small pool. But she doesn't believe it would make her sick. She didn't bring that much water, just the two metal water bottles she brought from Second and filled in the bunker. But that water is barely enough for two days. She's only used minimal to clean her wounds earlier today, and she drank some from Emily's bottle when Benji used his water to cool down her fever. The two must be out of water because of her, so she'll make sure to try and clean the water later and refill their bottles. For now, she decides to give the two a little time together. Beca takes the tool and her wooden stake, plus an extra shirt she wraps around her mouth and nose again like before the fleeing, and she leaves her bag behind and goes back into the woods.

* * *

It feels good to walk and stretch her legs again, this time without having the heavy bag adding onto her weight. Her shoulder still aches, and the pain in her right hand from hitting that tree is finally kicking in, other than that, she thinks she'll be okay. The memory loss sucks, but she'll survive that. And her head hurts less than before, at least Beca thinks so. The outside air is fresh and chilly, sending shivers down her skin as Beca wonders if she should head back to get her jacket. She decides to keep going, instead.

It's nice to be on her own for a bit, again. She likes the teens, but Beca can't think well if she's around others, always feeling like she has to participate in the conversation. Here, outside, it's quiet except for the wind rustling through the leaves from time to time. Beca thinks of what Emily had said earlier. How she found Benji near where she was dropped. The two shared a room back in the bunker, so maybe there's some kind of order to how the Chosen ones are left. Some kind of categories within the dead land that are leading for who can and who can't know what's going on in there. Beca was chosen at random to bunk with Chloe, but maybe it wasn't all that coincidental as she thought. Maybe there was a plan all along to put one and the other together in a room. It makes sense in a way, because let's say Chloe was in a whole different part of the dead land and she would share her findings with Beca when they'd gotten back, it would give Beca more knowledge about the land. She would not only know what she has seen, but also what Chloe had seen.

Which would mean Chloe could be around here somewhere.

That is if her theory is correct, which is very unlikely. The Officials just picked two people to share a room, and she still doubts they ever intended to bring them back to the bunker. Yes, she saw the hovercraft coming for her, but she also saw the gun the man was holding. She can understand why he brought it, maybe if they came across mutants or just out of precaution. But she's sure the Official heard the screams as well. The fear was echoing through the woods and the man with a gun in his hand just left them there.

Beca's gut feeling is telling her that the Officials are not coming back. And if they did intend to get them out of here, she can only hope Chloe was at the drop-off at the time Emily was running around screaming. If she was close enough to hear it, she can only hope Chloe was smarter than she was and got on that hovercraft. Being trapped in the woods where there is limited water and probably no food to find, with crazy Knee Guy running around with a sword, and a hundred other things that could kill them, Beca would choose that hovercraft and an Official holding a gun up if she had the chance.

Still, her mind stays with Chloe. She knows she would never **not** help a screaming young lady in need. If she indeed was dropped around the same place as they were, and she was still on the ground when Emily started screaming, and she _heard_ it, Beca knows she must still be here. And she tries so hard to keep her mind from making up images, but all she can see is Chloe being chopped up in pieces by Bumper.

She now understands why she felt she was never going to see Chloe again. Why her words felt like a goodbye. ' _I'll see you tonight_.' It echoes around in her head, because it is tonight, and Chloe's not here. She hopes she's not. She hopes Chloe is safe and sound in that bunker, taking a bath as long as she did before they left, humming along to a song in her head and tapping her finger on the side of the tub.

* * *

Beca spots some plants that smell of menthol and she wonders if they are edible. Wonders if she should start looking for food. She has her own, of course, a bag full, but if she's going to stay with Emily and Benji, she's going to have to split her food. She's packed plenty for one, enough for a week or maybe even two if she's chary with her nutrition, but she doubts it's enough for more than three days for a group.

The plant has, what looks like, a hundred small leaves. The smell of menthol gets stronger as Beca kneels down towards it. She picks one of the leaves of the plant and rubs it between two fingers. The dark, green leave is maybe three inches long and one inch broad with a kind of light red vein running through it. It feels weird on her skin, the small bumps on the leaf make the plant feel slightly fuzzy. But the strong scent rushes through Beca's body and her stomach growls, reminding her that she hasn't eaten all day. Beca slips the shirt she has in front of her mouth down to her neck and takes the smallest bite ever. It taste quite good, but Beca knows she's going to have to eat a lot of this to have a sense of feeling full.

Instead of doing that, however, she plans on taking Emily and Benji here tomorrow and search the rest of the area. Chances are, there's more of these kind of edible plants around. That is, if these are in fact edible, but Beca doesn't think they are poisonous. She doesn't really have a reason to think that, because she is in the dead land, and she should probably not just stuff whatever she thinks smells nice in her mouth.

Beca puts the extra shirt in front of her mouth again, and tries to remember what the way back was when she hears a sound. Immediately, she freezes, her hand on the wooden stake down her pants, while she reaches for the tool with the other. She needs the knife that is in there. She stays still as a statue and just when she begins to doubt her ears and plans to proceed her way, Beca hears it again.

A footstep. On some leaves, or just grass, but a footstep for sure.

In one quick jump, Beca hides her body behind a tree, both hands holding a weapon as she attempts to steady her breathing. Failing though, because her heart is pounding louder than the footsteps that are seeming to approach her.

It must be Bumper. He must have caught up on them when Beca was injured and they were forced to take a break. He probably followed them down here to attack them at night. The question ' _why?_ ' has been ringing through Beca's mind the entire time, but now louder than before. What does he get out of killing them? There have been no murders at all back in Second, so he can't be some weirdo who kicks on killing people for fun. Or maybe he is here, because it's a little easier to hide a body in the middle of nowhere, where no one will ask questions or suspect anyone.

Or maybe Emily did something to him. She seems like an innocent kid, but Beca more than anyone knows that appearances lie. Why would he attack her out of nowhere? The two got along fine in the hovercraft from Second to here. Maybe she tried to attack him and he defended himself, and then she lied about it to Benji, forcing them to run away to keep her story straight. Maybe Emily is the crazy one here, and-

Beca has to actually shake her head to get rid of these crazy assumptions she's making. Emily would even pull a muscle if she'd frown; this girl can't attack anyone. It is Bumper who's walking through the woods right now, getting closer and closer to the tree she's hiding behind, and it doesn't matter why he did it, she must take him out. Must kill him before he kills her.

Now, Beca can act tough 365 days out of a year, but right now her legs are turning into straws at the thought of pushing this knife into someone and ending a life. She tenses her muscles and pushes her back harder against the tree, knowing very well this is something she has to do. She told herself she would be okay with dying, but not without putting up a fight. And if she has to kill someone who wants to kill her, she will do it. She has no other choice, yet she hopes the guy will turn a different way, walk another path and not the one that's going by her tree.

Slowly, she hears the footsteps getting louder and louder, to which Beca responds by raising the arm that holds the knife. That happens to be her left arm and pain shoots through her as she forces her lips to stay shut. Her limbs are still all presses together, but her left arm is above her head and her hand is tenses around the weapon. The other hand is also clenched, holding tight onto the stake that's pushed against her chest. She closes her eyes and tries to breathe as quietly as she can, focusing on where she hears the feet meeting ground behind her instead of the pain in her shoulder.

He's close.

And Beca's ready.

She counts down to the pace of his feet and when she's reached zero, Beca jumps out from behind the hiding spot and pushes the person against the ground, with herself following. The person lands on its back and Beca's on top of them, holding the wooden stake on the stranger's neck and her knife raised above her body, ready to draw out every single bit of power she has inside to jam the weapon into this person's head.

But she blinks. Doesn't know why, but she blinks, and it washes the anger out from her eyes, giving her a clear view of the man's face. Which is not a man at all. The red hair pulls her attention first, and then the eyes. Always the blue eyes.

And then her eyes see nothing anymore, because she's holding onto Chloe in a rather uncomfortable position, basically pushing her chest into the girl's face that's still spread out on the cold ground. Beca knows she's dropped the knife when she realized it was Chloe, but the stake is still in the hand she's holding her friend's head with. But she doesn't wanna let go, afraid if she will move one muscle, Chloe will be gone and it's all been a dream.

"I could use a greeting like that more often, Mitchell." Chloe brings out after a minute of giggling.

Beca moves after that, knowing this is Chloe and not an illusion, and she sits back up. Which is actually on the girl's stomach, but Chloe's hands are on her hips, so Beca figures it's fine. She wants to get up and get Chloe out of these woods and tell her everything, but she hears another sound. More footsteps? Is Bumper here then after all?

"Becs?"

It's mumbled and when Beca looks at her friend, she can see why. She has unconsciously put two fingers over Chloe's lips and she's holding up the stake this time, next to her head as she can feel the blood rushing through her.

"You know that's a bird right?"

 _As if she can't tell the difference between a bird flying through trees and actual danger._

"Yes. Of course." She tells Chloe and the girl smirks, making Beca's cheeks burn up, but she quickly hops on her feet to prevent Chloe from seeing that. She helps her friend up and asks what she's doing here, how she got here, and Chloe tells her she's been following tracks for hours now, tracks that are likely to belong to them.

"What, like prints?"

"Sometimes prints, sometimes blood or what seemed like a body being dragged somewhere."

Beca thinks about the trip she's had with Emily and Benji through the woods and how her legs gave out a lot of times, how the two moved her forward while her feet never left the ground. Chloe's hand is already on her face when she tells her that those remainings are probably hers, and Chloe seems worried, so she tells her she can barely even feel it anymore, even if it's not really true.

Beca tells her about the school bus they found and they make their way over there hand in hand. Beca doesn't know why they're holding hands, but it feels kind of safe. And nice.

"So what's up with the shirt, pirate?"

Beca chuckles and feels her lips being lifted, for the first time today she doesn't feel pain inside. "Don't make me throw you down, again." Beca jokes before actually explaining it to her, and it sounds even more silly out loud, but Chloe doesn't tell her it's stupid. Instead, she asks her if she can also use that trick.

"You look like hell." Chloe tells her and Beca follows the trip her eyes make over her body, finding an arm that's just a bunch of open wounds with dirt and dried up blood around it, a pants covering only one of her lower legs, a hand that's black and bruised and she doesn't wanna know what her face looks like. Guess she really does look like hell.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Soooo sorry for the long wait on this new chapter guys, life happened, you know how it is. Hope y'all enjoy and let me know as usual! On here or on Tumblr (lifeisbechloe)**_


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